Lelouch of the Zombie Apocalypse
by sephiroth12285
Summary: A rewrite of my HOTD and CG crossover with a new begining and start to the story taking what worked from the last story while removing what didn't. As Lelouch was seeking an old friend to take upon the role of Nunnally's protector as he leads the Black Knights an unknown zombie outbreak sweeps across the world changing it forever. Can Lelouch stay alive and save his sister?
1. Chapter 1 End of the world

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Code Geass and Highschool of the Dead as they belong to their respective owners please support them…HOTD manga is better through.

A/N; this is a rewrite to my Lelouch of the Zombie Apocalypse fanfic. The first half is for those not familiar with Code Geass and to help set the scene. I had a few people PM on the last one asking me about Code Geass and I tried to keep it as short as possible so you can skip down to the second line break if you know the series...its just for the rare few people who don't know about it.

Anyway it starts off different following events of the Battle of Kyushu with Lelouch knowing that Suzaku is a lost cause decides to seek out another friend to be Nunnally's protector, but little does he realize the world he knows is about to come to a sudden end as he must fight to not only survive, but he must save his sister and those he love from the zombie horde.

It's going to be a Saeko and Lelouch pair up while it will be Takashi and Rei while everyone else I am deciding on, but more importantly I am deciding who will live and who will die. Shido of course will get his so don't worry on that before you ask.

Anyway on with the chapter and I hope you'll enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 1

End of the world

The day was like any other with the sun high over the sky and a few clouds hanging in the sky, but while everything else was normal for a majority of the people living in Tokonosu Concession. Formerly Tokonosu City before events seven years ago when the superpower Holy Britannian Empire invaded the independent nation of Japan known throughout the world as possessing about seventy percent of the world's supply of Sakuradite. It was part of that reason that Japan was invaded and in one month due to the combinations of Britannia's overwhelming military forces that outnumbered Japan's military causing them to lose the early aerial and naval battles quickly and then what likely shortened the ground battles on Japan was the introduction of Britannia's new weapon the Knightmare Frame.

Although the Japanese had the misconception that it was the Knightmare Frame that decided the war, but the fact was that they were introduced late into the war when the Britannian Forces began making landfall on the Japanese mainland. Japan lost due to Britannia's overwhelming military numbers and that besides Knightmare Frames the Britannian Forces had vastly more superior military technology and weaponry at their disposal.

Japan lost the war after a month after hostiles began ending when the country surrendered after the suicide of Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, although rumors persist that he was murdered and the suicide story was a cover up.

Regardless Japan had lost and was now a colony of the Empire being renamed Area 11, although Japan lost the worse of it came after the war where not only did Japan lose its independence as a country. It was stripped of its culture, name and dignity as the Japanese were referred to as Elevens. But this didn't mean the fight was over as resistance groups formed following the end of the war. One group formed from what remained of Japan's military became the Japan Liberation Front.

Seven years later and the fighting continued, but it was then a game changer that broke the dead lock between the two sides. Following an incident that happened in Shinjuku Ghetto a half-year ago things began to change with the appearance of a mysterious masked man known to the public as Zero. No one knew his identity or where he came from with some rumors of Zero not even being a Japanese person, but regardless the achievements and results of Zero's actions turned him into Japan's hope for freedom from Britannia. Later on Zero formed his own resistance group dubbed the Order of the Black Knights.

However there was no doubt the Order of the Black Knights was very different from the other groups around Area 11. As demonstrated that Zero and a small group of his followers successfully rescued a group of Britannian civilians had been taken hostage by the Japan Liberation Front at the Lake Kawaguchi Convention Center. As the Britannian Forces under acting Viceroy Second Princess Cornelia li Britannia were unable to Zero and his followers succeeded where they failed saving the hostages.

It was after this that the Order of the Black Knights while fighting against Britannia didn't hesitate to point their spear at Britannia, but they would go after anyone they deemed tyrannical and powerful such as drug dealers and corrupt politicians. Also another factor that made them popular among the Japanese who hated Britannian rule, but didn't agree with the use of terrorism was that they wouldn't involve innocent civilians. A fact they had demonstrated many times earning them much more support from the public than any other group before them had achieved.

Black Knights had in fact achieved much in the following months after the organization's appearance to the entire world. The group rapidly grew in size and capability as the organization soon matched the Japan Liberation Front.

The Order of the Black Knights soon became Japan's only hope for freedom from Britannia. Not long after the Lake Kawaguchi incident the Japan Liberation Front was all but wiped out when their headquarters in the Narita Mountains led by Viceroy Cornelia. However the Black Knights intervened in this battle launching a shocking counterattack that wiped out a large number of the Britannian Army. They even came close to capturing Viceroy Cornelia, but at the last possible moment victory was snatched from their grasp.

But this battle marked the end of the Japan Liberation Front as the group had exhausted their forces in fighting Britannia in previous battles found their influence to wane rapidly until it finally fell apart. The damage they received with the lost of their headquarters and their heavy looses over the past months was just too enormous for them to recover from.

Thus the Black Knights had replaced the Japan Liberation Front as the most powerful and organized resistance group in Japan, but another change took place with Suzaku Kururugi being announced to become Princess Euphemia li Britannia, Sub-Viceroy of Area 11, knight and protector which caused a division among the Japanese on who to support the People's Princess Euphemia or the Black Knights. A division that was only furthered when seemingly out of nowhere a sudden invasion of Kyushu, Japan, staged by former Chief Cabinet Secretary Atsushi Sawasaki. Sawasaki with the aid of General Cao of the Chinese Federation was providing aid and military support.

He began a revival of a legitimate, independent Japan with the Fukuoka base serving as a capital. However there was only so much a politician could pull off meaning that Sawasaki was merely a puppet working with the Chinese Federation. Zero knew the only thing that would come of Sawasaki's actions would be a change in masters from the Britannian Empire to the Chinese Federation.

But only if they had they been successful.

* * *

Thus bringing us to the present where the leader of the Black Knights the mysterious masked revolutionary who had achieved more than any resistance group had in the last seven years was in Tokonosu City on his way to Fujimi Academy to meet with an old friend.

For this he was without his mask, but besides his chief accomplice no one else in the Black Knights knew the identity of Zero. There was one other who knew, but he wasn't an official member of the organization but rather a leader of the Six Houses of Kyoto who backed the Black Knights.

The man under the mask had medium-length ebony hair, violet eyes, and a fair sink complexion. Although he was somewhat scrawny having little muscle he is considerably tall for his age. He was dressed in causal civilian attire consisting of a black trimmed white jacket with matching pants and brown shoes while wearing an amaranth pink collar-shirt underneath with a dark blue tie. Ordinary at first appearance the young man however carried a concealed weapon hidden by his jacket which was a pistol while carrying a spare clip for his own protection.

Zero's identity was Lelouch Lamperouge, no, his real name was Lelouch vi Britannia the former Eleventh Prince of the Holy Britannian Empire. He was exiled to Japan roughly around eight to seven years ago along with his younger sister as political hostages and was assumed killed along with his sister during the war between Japan and Britannia. At present he was using a fake name to overthrow the Britannian Empire his father ruled as he continued to live his life behind a mask.

Lelouch arrived at his destination the front gates of the academy, although he had been told about the academy but considering the education structures the Japanese had the Academy was in surprising good shape which is likely contributed to the fact it was more of a boarding school being attended by Honorary Britannians or Japanese who had the right connections for their children. Fujimi Academy was built upon a large campus with multiple buildings in a fenced and gated area, but its size wasn't equal to that of Ashford Academy being much smaller in comparison.

The black-haired young man opened the gate and walked in closing it behind him. Suddenly a tall man with black hair wearing a light blue shirt with a high collar and black pants approaching Lelouch.

"Hey what is a Britannian kid doing here," Teshima, the Physical Education teacher at Fujimi Academy, said as he approached Lelouch obviously not happy to see him.

"I am merely here to see a friend of mines," Lelouch said as he moved his left hand over his left eye prompting a strange red glow to appear. The mark of a phoenix about to take flight manifested within Lelouch's eye. "I would like a visitor's pass and given full permission to travel the grounds to speak to her without any further interruption until I leave the academy."

The ethereal phoenix took flight traveling from Lelouch's mind and into Teshima's eyes as the man's demeanor suddenly changed from aggressive to suddenly passive and obedient.

"Sure thing why don't we get you checked in and with a visitor's pass."

"Thank you very much I appreciate that," Lelouch said with a smirk.

As Lelouch got a visitor's pass after spending a few moments in the office allowing him to move about the school unquestioned the former prince began looking for the person he sought. His mind wandered to the first day they met and besides another boy she was another real friend.

* * *

(April 5th 2010 A.T.B.)

_Near the Kururugi Shrine on the pathway leading back to the shrine a young ten-year old boy wearing a white short-sleeve shirt with a collar with black pants and red suspenders on was on the ground trying to shield the food he had brought from the store to feed his younger sister. Three boys had surrounded the ten-year old and were viciously kicking him as he made no effort to fight back. _

"_That Kururugi kid isn't here to protect you now, so fight back you damn Brit!" _

"_Yeah fight back!" _

_Lelouch didn't move as he took their blows and kept trying to shield the food he had bought with his body, Suzaku Kururugi was in Tokyo so as the boys said he had no one to save him. Lelouch was going to have to wait until the boys tired out, but unknown to him someone who had observed him make the risky and dangerous trip from the Kururugi Shrine every couple of days. The girl was about the same age as Lelouch and Suzaku if not older by about a year wearing a white and blue sailor-style school uniform with a red bow and a blue dress carrying a wooden sword by her side. She had a fair skin complexion with light blue eyes and long purple hair styled into a top-knot ponytail. _

_She was even present when Suzaku intervened and broke up one of the attacks on Lelouch. The men assigned to watch him would only intervene if he tried to flee, kill himself or others trying to kill him. She watched with a seemingly sad expression as Lelouch merely endured the vicious beating he was receiving as the 11-year old girl recalled the words he told Suzaku. _

"_It's your own fault you know, why don't you just accept the food we give you instead of risking yourself going into town? It's not poisoned." Suzaku snapped at the black haired boy. _

"_I know it's not poisoned." _

"_Then eat it," Suzaku shouted. _

"_I am here and I will live…I am living by my own strength and I won't be dead any longer. Not me and not Nunnally either," Lelouch said as those words left the young girl curious about the boy. _

_After thinking about those words again the girl stepped forward brandishing her wooden sword and approached the three boys declaring to them. _

"_I must insist you stop that," An eleven year old Saeko said. _

"_Or what, you should be helping us beat this kid up." _

"_It is both despicable and dishonorable to be beating a young man who is too weak to fight back and has no wish to fight any of you. I will ask again, please cease your actions."_

"_Nobody tells me what to do you stupid Brit lover," The lead boy said as he rushed Saeko, but quicker than the eyes could see the purple haired woman knocked the boy to the ground after dropping to her knees delivering a sweeping blow. Before the lead boy could move Saeko was about to bring her wooden sword down upon the bully, but stopped it just a centimeter from his face. _

"_I strongly believe you should reconsider your actions otherwise I can inflict a lot of harm upon you, I will defend myself or is it truly a fight you seek?"_

_Seeing at how close Saeko came to crushing the boy's face with her bokken the older child was shivering in fright at both the near hit and the look in Saeko's eyes prompting the boy and his friends to flee. Once they were gone Saeko turned to Lelouch who was struggling to his feet before dusting himself off. The girl approached him; she didn't offer to help him only because she knew he would refuse it. _

"_You do this because you are alive, but I am curious why would you say something like that?" _

_Lelouch looked up at the eleven year old girl with a tint of confusion on his face and annoyance that he had someone else poking his nose into his business. But the girl was oddly different from Suzaku who seemed more curious for the reasons behind his words than criticizing him on going out to get his own food. _

"_Because that man," Lelouch began with his voice filled with bitterness and resentment. "Said I was dead and had no rights, dead since the day I was born, but I intend to prove otherwise. I won't accept things just given to me." _

"_I see so you wish to be self-reliant despite being born with a weak body," Saeko inquired. _

"_I guess that's one way to put it, but…who are you anyway," Lelouch asked as he picked up the groceries. _

"_Oh," Saeko began realizing she did not introduce herself properly. "I am sorry, I am Saeko Busujima of the Busujima Family and you are?" _

"_Uh, I am Lelouch vi Britannia." _

* * *

(Present Day)

Speaking of whom, Saeko Busujima was sitting on a bench near the track field reading a book titled The Sickness onto Death. The woman had aged seven years since first meeting Lelouch she was obviously older but her body matured into that of a woman with an athletic and slender figure. She was dressed in the academy uniform that consisted of a long-green skirt, a white schoolgirl sailor style uniform shirt with long sleeves trimmed in green and a green bow to match. She wore long black socks and brown shoes to complete her attire while on the bench sitting near her was her bokken wooden sword.

Instead of pigtails she had a child she allowed her long purple hair to hang free reaching down past her waist. She had grown quite tall for her age being just only slightly shorter than Lelouch.

It was almost the end of lunch and after finishing her meal the young woman was reading a book quietly to herself before going to her next class. As she read her book a strange feeling came to her as she began thinking about Lelouch. The young man she met as a child due to the fact that Kyoshiro Tohdoh who was staying on the Kururugi Grounds acting as a martial arts instructor to Suzaku was looking after Saeko while her father was away having been called back into active duty with the military. In fact she was actually going to the shrine to meet up with Tohdoh when she ran into Lelouch. Thanks to that it was easy for Saeko to hang out with Lelouch and Suzaku while Nunnally was delighted to have another girl to play with.

When the war came and Japan became Area 11, although contact with Suzaku was lost but after seven years later Saeko and Lelouch remained in contact with one another despite having lost touch with Suzaku. In fact it was easier keeping in touch with Saeko than it would have been with Suzaku considering his status as the son of the late Prime Minister. Lately the young woman had been worried for Lelouch, because ever since the last time they saw each other it was just a little under five months ago.

* * *

(Five Months Ago)

_Following the first public reveal of Zero the man who had been accused of Clovis's murder was set free and yet through a surprising chain of events ended up as a student of Ashford Academy. Suzaku Kururugi much to the surpise of his old childhood friend Lelouch was now attending the same school as he was which was equally surprisingly to the brown-haired boy as well. As a special surpise Suzaku invited over to dinner but he wasn't the only guest he intended to surpise Nunnally with as Saeko was asked to come by for dinner as well too…a special reunion dinner as it were. _

_A young Japanese maid of twenty four years old was wearing the traditional grab of a maid complete with the white hat and apron. She had short black-hair with brown eyes and a fair skin complexion while before her she was pushing a fourteen year old girl with long sandy curly brown hair that reached down to her waist. Her eyes was closed rendering her blinded to a terrible event in her childhood with her blindness being a result of the trauma she suffered. She was wearing the Ashford Academy Middle-School uniform that consisted of a pink dress and white collar shirt combination uniform with a red tie. She had black shoes with almost-knee high dark pink socks. _

"_Hi Lelouch I have returned home," Nunnally vi Britannia or rather Nunnally Lamperouge greeted happily as Sayoko Shinozaki wheeled the girl into the dining room. _

"_Welcome back Miss Sayoko…Nunnally I have a special surpise for you." Lelouch said as he rose up from behind the chair where he had been sitting at the table. _

"_Really what could it be?" _

_Lelouch smiled before brining a finger up to his lips gesturing for Sayoko to be quiet. A moment later Lelouch gestured for Suzaku to step out from the corner he had been hiding behind as the brown-haired boy who was a little shorter than Lelouch looked upon Nunnally with nervous green eyes. Without a word Suzaku approached Nunnally's side, but after a nod from Lelouch the young man knelt before her taking her right hand. Nunnally was surprised as the hand wasn't that of her brother, but yet somehow recognized it as someone she had last known seven years ago. Nunnally touched the top of his hand with her left hand._

"_This hand," Nunnally began before tears fell from her eyes. "Thank heaven I knew you would be alright." _

"_It's been a long time Nunnally," Suzaku Kururugi said as Nunnally shed tears of joy. _

"_Of course that's not all I thought someone else should be here for this occasion," Lelouch said with a smile as that was the signal for Saeko to step out from another room surprising Suzaku as the purple hair and the blue eyes were almost instant giveaways. She was dressed in her Fujimi Academy uniform, but she put her hand on Nunnally's shoulder. _

"_This wouldn't be a proper reunion without me right," Saeko said with a smile. _

"_Saeko…you're here too!" _

"_Of course…your brother told me Suzaku-kun was going to be here tonight so how could I not come."_

_Lelouch smiled at his sister seeing the smile and the tears. This was without doubt the happiest he had seen his sister in a long time. This was a reunion of close friends as Suzaku and Saeko were the only people he could express his true self where to the students of Ashford Academy Lelouch had to wear the mask of the sociable, likeable, and often easy going student. Being with Saeko and Suzaku he could drop the mask…slightly in the case of Suzaku through, but Lelouch felt free in a sense. _

_Although unaware to both of them including Nunnally the young man was able to cast off his mask completely while ironically donning a physical mask to remove the false mask he wore daily. _

_The evening went on uneventfully with the four friends catching back-up, but as the evening rolled down to the conclusion Nunnally turned to Suzaku who sat on the left side of the table by Nunnally while Lelouch sat across from him with Saeko sitting to Lelouch's left. _

"_So tell me you will stay the night won't you," Nunnally asked before Lelouch answered. _

"_Suzaku is enrolled as a student at Ashford Academy now so you can see him anytime you want."_

"_Is that true," Nunnally asked hopefully. _

"_Well I still have military duties, so I can't be here every day," Suzaku answered while Nunnally was saddened and worried by this. _

"_Oh you are still in the military?"_

"_Don't worry I have been reassigned to the engineering corps it's a lot less dangerous," Suzaku replied referring to his transfer to the Advance Special Envoy Engineering Corps where he was the pilot of the prototype seventh generation Knightmare Frame the Z-01 Lancelot. _

"_Oh cool engineering huh," Lelouch commented. _

"_Sounds like a safer job," Saeko said in agreement. _

_Lelouch suddenly got up to take care of the empty tea pot, but seeing this Suzaku began to get up._

"_Oh let me help you," Suzaku began but Lelouch stopped him._

"_You just sit down…unlike seven years ago we get to be your hosts now."Suzaku smiled before Lelouch commented. "It's funny you are more mellow than you used to be." _

"_And you are a bit rougher than you used to be."_

_Lelouch laughed slightly adding. "I suppose." _

_As Lelouch walked off into the kitchen Saeko smiled at the scene before commenting. _

"_I think you two despite how old you have gotten are still the same people you just merely matured with age." _

"_I guess you have a point Saeko, the three of us are almost adults now."_

"_I like to think we still have a long way to go," Saeko replied with a smile. _

"_Speaking of which how have you and Lelouch been," Suzaku inquired. _

"_What do you mean?" _

"_I mean you guys seem close so," Suzaku began as Saeko realized what the young man was trying to ask her. A light blush appeared on her face before she giggled a bit giving a response. _

"_We are not serious if that is what you mean?" _

"_Oh no nothing like," Suzaku said trying to be polite while at the same time not giving Nunnally the wrong idea who was sitting more or less between them. _

"_It's alright I understand. Really through all I want is to be useful. As a daughter of the Busujima family, I intend to be true to my word."_

"_So you are keeping the promise you made," Nunnally asked. _

"_Of course," The purple-haired woman replied. _

"_But do you, uh, love Lelouch? If you don't mind me asking," Nunnally asked feeling a little embarrassed asking such a question while Suzaku was equally as curious. _

"_Then let me ask you a question. Do you know how it feels, to finally find someone worthy to serve and follow, being of samurai lineage? Like if all your life beforehand was meaningless, merely a pathway to this moment and the future. If he seeks to use me as a blade or a lover, I shall be glad, because it's the one that I chose to follow and serve of my own heart and soul," Saeko said as Suzaku wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that. _

"_That's deep Saeko," Nunnally replied. _

"_I apologize if I sounded a little too personal Nunnally-chan." _

"_No its okay I am glad my brother has someone like you looking out for him…thank you," Nunnally said with a kind smile. _

* * *

(Present Day)

Saeko was brought out of her thoughts as a hand rested on her left shoulder. Turning her head she saw probably the last person she expected. Lelouch was standing right there behind her for the first time in five months the two friends were face to face again.

"Saeko…is there somewhere we could talk in private?"

"Sure Lelouch-sama, but why are you here?"

"I'll explain," Lelouch said as his voice held a hint of hesitation.

Saeko led Lelouch to an empty classroom on the first floor and no one was expected to use it until later that day giving the two a private location to have their discussion while Saeko was curious about why Lelouch would travel all the way to Fujimi Academy just to see her and to have a private discussion. For Lelouch to ask for a place to speak privately Saeko knew it had to be serious.

"Is something wrong," Saeko asked.

Lelouch was quiet before answering.

"Nothing serious, but I am facing a problem."

"Go on," Saeko asked as Lelouch took his breath before he began.

"Saeko I am involved with something considerable and more of my time has been occupied, but there is no easy way to say this but I need your help."

Saeko eyed Lelouch suspiciously before saying.

"Is it because you're Zero?"

Lelouch was taken aback by her words, but the young man knew he was going to have to tell her sooner or later in order for Saeko to better grasp the situation he was in. But that secret was merely the tip of the iceberg for other secrets he was now likely to reveal.

"How long did you know," Lelouch said making no attempt to hide it, but he was curious to how she figured it out. The only other person so far who figured it out was Euphemia when they were both stranded on Kaminejima Island after the disaster of a mission in which Lelouch as Zero tried for one final time to recruit Suzaku while having him abandon his position as Euphemia's Knight.

The mission failed due to Britannia's willingness to sacrifice Suzaku who was quick to take Zero captive to hold him until the strike destroyed them both, but it failed due to the surprising appearance the new Britannian Prototype aerial battleship the BBAF-1001 Avalon that nearly wiped out the Black Knights forces on the island. However Tohdoh acting as the new field commander and head of military operations for the Black Knights managed to salvage the situation while Zero after being stranded on Kaminejima Island for the night pulled off a stunning heist by hijacking the prototype IFX-V301 Gawain which had both experimental weapons and a portable version of the technology that allowed the Avalon to achieve flight.

"I didn't know for sure until now?"

Lelouch laughed mockingly at himself.

"You're the second person to deduce I was Zero and here I thought I was doing a good job hiding my identity. I even wore heeled boots to look taller too."

"I think that is just it you were trying to mask who you are, but there are just some things you can't hide. I am sorry Lelouch, but there were just some things Zero did that had me suspect it was you, because you're the only one I can think of who has both an intense hate for Britannia and would be intelligent enough to pull off what Zero has done not to mention you would have a damn good reason to hide behind a mask."

Her response surprised him, but it was closer along the lines what Euphemia told him when he asked her how he figured out he was Zero.

"_Because you were trying to disguise you are now, right? I don't know that part of you. I just remembered how you used to be. It's obvious you would be taller and you have changed in other ways as well right?" _

Even now Euphemia's words still surprised Lelouch, although he was a little uneasy with the Sub-Viceroy being aware of his identity still he knew Euphemia wouldn't tell Cornelia since judging from her response when Lelouch inquired about it she likely feared Lelouch would end up killed. Still Euphemia and Saeko were right. His disguise as Zero was meant to distinguish himself from who he was now and to deceive the people around him. It meant nothing to Euphemia and Saeko, although Euphemia knew him from childhood only. But either Euphemia like Saeko had great instincts or her potent memories of him allowed her to see through the mask while Cornelia remained in the dark. Lelouch conclude that Saeko having known him for seven years probably had more to work with in deducing his identity than Euphemia did.

"So who was the second person who figured out that you were Zero," Saeko asked suddenly.

"It was my sister the Sub-Viceroy, Euphemia."

"I see," Saeko replied before smiling putting on hand on Lelouch's shoulder. "Don't feel bad Lelouch-sama we women just have good intuition."

Lelouch chuckled bitterly to himself.

"I think I should have spent more time on my disguise."

"Maybe, but…if you are Zero I am willing to bet you are here about Nunnally aren't you?"

"Yes I am," Lelouch began taking a deep breath. "As you already guessed with the Black Knights growing in numbers and strength soon I'll need to dedicate my time as Zero more meaning I won't be able to stay by Nunnally's side. I can't involve her in Zero's world not because Nunnally would approve of my actions but rather I don't want her getting dragged down with me if I get captured or worse."

"I doubt you'll lose," Saeko said confident of Lelouch's abilities.

"I appreciate that Saeko, but I would be a fool not to consider the worse-case scenario. In fact there was already one time when I almost got captured by Cornelia," Lelouch said referring to the incident in the Saitama Ghetto where Lelouch first engaged Cornelia in battle after using the media to entice Lelouch as Zero to appear. At first Cornelia recreated conditions as they were in Shinjuku Ghetto to draw him out and lure him into a state of overconfidence. A tactic that nearly worked as Lelouch's plans fell apart also due to the dissimilar goals he and the local resistance group he enlisted not to mention crumbling moral was a factor too.

Lelouch himself who had commandeered a Knightmare Frame blended in with retreating troops hoping to sneak onto the G-1 mobile base Cornelia was in to get to her, but Cornelia also considered that possibility and ordered all pilots to leave their machines for a line-up. Lelouch would have been caught had it not been for the timely intervention of his accomplice who arrived wearing the suit and mask to create a diversion for Lelouch to escape.

That was too close and since then Lelouch took care to avoid another situation like that again.

"Something else happened," Saeko realizing that wasn't it.

"Yeah, but this time it wasn't as Zero…an old acquaintance of my accomplice came for her and held Nunnally hostage to get back at me," Lelouch said remembering the incident with Mao who had a supernatural power he possessed but his made him especially dangerous to Lelouch. It was thanks to Suzaku that Nunnally was saved and Mao was dealt with. "But it only drove the fact home that I need someone who can be by Nunnally's side in my place. I had hoped I could convince Suzaku to do that since he was already attending Ashford Academy, but you already know why he can't."

"Yeah he's Euphemia's Knight and after their conversation during that happened in Kyushu there is no way I can get him to leave Euphemia's side now."

"I see so I am your next choice."

"Yes I apologize for being upfront about it like this, but," Lelouch began but Saeko interrupted him.

"I am only upset that you didn't ask me to join your little group," Saeko teased before adding. "But we both know Nunnally is important to you and trust me when I say I am growing a little tired of this school. So I'll keep Nunnally safe for you."

Lelouch let out a heavy sigh, but it wasn't out of being thankful that his discussion with Saeko had gone well with her agreeing to be Nunnally's protector. But it was because Nunnally had someone Lelouch trusted to look out for her while he was away rebuilding the world for her sake. Ever since the incident with Mao the former prince had been deeply concerned for the well being of his younger sister almost to the point he didn't want to leave her side, but now he had at last tended to that problem.

"Thank you Saeko…"

"I told you a long time ago I would be useful and I will be true to that word."

"I am glad, but I'll go over my plan for getting you into Ashford Academy. With Milly's support I should be able to take care of relations with the students easy enough while having a kendo instructor like you should be able to get in easy I can also take steps to ensure administration is _convinced _to allow your transfer."

"You sound to have it all planned out."

"I do, but before I even start up anything I wanted to speak with you first."

"I understand," Saeko replied but outside the building unknown to the duo was that something terrible was currently happening and sweeping across the world at such speed that just about everyone didn't have enough time to react against it.

* * *

At the main gate where Lelouch had entered from not too long ago a strange man was acting very strangely. He was a Japanese man in a black business suit with a red tie, but clearly there was something terribly wrong with the man as he had a pale grey coloration instead of a normal health skin tone. His face was seemingly without any emotion a blank slate with rolled up eyes and tight pupils including his tongue moving erratically. This got the attention of the teachers with Teshima followed by an older teacher armed with a pole while accompanying him was a female teacher.

The woman was about thirty years of age with reddish-brown hair styled into a loose ponytail with long strands hanging down in front of each ear. Light brown with glasses over them wearing a white jacket and skirt with a red shirt and red high-heels.

Kyoko Hayashi was a teacher at the school and the ping pong club's adviser, but as Teshima was acting more aggressive Kyoko was a little concerned yet she adjusted her glasses and addressed the man.

"Who are you? Stop this at once or I'll call the police!"

"Now now Hayashi-sensei there is no need to raise your voice," Teshima said rolling up his left sleeve. "I'll get him!"

Teshima grabbed the man slamming him against the gate.

"Now look here!"

"Hold on Teshima-sensei, don't use force," Kyoko called out worried the man might take things too far.

"Yeah, but this guy is strong."

But following Teshima slamming the man against the gate something fell from the man's mouth that Kyoto noticed.

They were human fingers.

"FINGERS…POLICE!"

As Kyoko panicked the man on the other gate wiggled part of his body through biting Teshima's exposed left arm. At that point everyone panicked while the whole scene was being observed from the rooftop of the school by a young seventeen year old man. Teshima fell back onto the ground bleeding as the man on the other side of the gate took a big bite out of his arm with the Physical Education teacher's arm bleeding profusely.

"STOP THE BLEEDING STOP THE BLEEDING, SOMEONE GET NURSE MARIKAWA-SENSEI!"

"Get the police and an ambulance too," Another teacher shouted.

"Teshima-sensei please hold on," Kyoto begged.

"It's no good the bleeding won't stop," An older teacher reported before the man suddenly died. "He's…he's dead…"

"It can't be," Kyoto said as she started to cry.

Suddenly to the shock of the teachers Teshima came back to life as his eyes and skin began to take on the appearance of those of the man behind the gate.

"Teshima…Teshima are you ok," Kyoto said as Teshima began to get up. "Oh thank god."

Unfortunately what she failed to realize was the Teshima was dead and what was grabbing her to sink its teeth into its neck was no longer human. The young man on the roof witnessed the whole thing and he reacted quickly by running off heading downstairs.

* * *

Meanwhile Lelouch and Saeko were starting to notice something was amiss as their meeting ended Lelouch the former prince began trying to call the academy but found that that circuits were busy.

"Something wrong," Saeko asked noticing an expression of mixed concern and confusion.

"I am not sure I just tried to call the academy and it says all lines are busy that never happened before."

"Attention all students and staff…I repeat attention all students and staff a violent outbreak has taken place on school grounds," An overhead announcement said that was being heard throughout the school. "All students are instructed to follow staff to safety I repeat," The announcer went on to say, but suddenly a scream was heard along with some unsettling noises from something that wasn't human. "Please stay back, help someone save…someone save me!"

With a final scream the announcer was dead, but that was more than enough to ignite a school wide panic.

"Are they serious," Lelouch said but soon the sound of his inner thoughts was drowned out by the sound of panicked students stampeding through the school.

"If there is an outbreak attempting to leave the school right now would be too dangerous."

"I agree especially with a stampede of students happening," Lelouch said as his mind began working. "Leaving on foot in any event is too dangerous we'll need a mode of transportation. Does this school have buses?"

"Yes they have mini-buses parked in the parking lot, but the keys are in the teacher's lounge," Saeko answered.

"Then we'll need to make our way there, but we'll need to wait for the stampede to settle before we try to leave," Lelouch said as heard the sound of students rushing by outside.

"You have a weapon I assume right?"

"Of course," Lelouch replied with a smirk opening up his jacket revealing a handgun in a holster he had concealed within his jacket.

The panic screaming and shouting that lasted for what seemed to be forever before finally dying down after almost ten minutes. With no one outside Lelouch with Saeko taking point cautiously exited the empty classroom they were hiding in. Lelouch was ready to draw his gun, but yet something felt wrong. He saw blood on the ground and one or two students that got trampled to death. He couldn't explain it, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck go up and Lelouch drew his gun making sure the clip was full and the safety was off before attaching a silencer to it he had in his coat pocket having one on hand in the event he needed to use the gun but didn't want to alert anyone to his use of it.

Lelouch calmly scanned the area while trying to figure out just what kind of illness could cause such a violent outbreak as the announcer claimed. It seemed that Lelouch's fears became well founded when he and Saeko came across a pair of girls running towards them. One of them was female student with brown hair tied in a pigtail and is slightly combed in the front dressed in the standard female academy uniform. Running next to her was another female student, but only she had black hair which is tied in a white bun.

Misuzu Ichijou and Toshimi Niki hurried towards Lelouch but ended up stopping when Saeko gestured for them to hold it.

"You guys got to run they are coming," A panicked Misuzu said.

"Who are coming," Saeko asked while a collection of groaning was heard from the direction the girls had been becoming from.

"Them," Toshimi answered pointing at the group of student totaling at about six, but like the man at the gate had been their skin had taken on a gray coloration and their eyes had become rolled up.

"What the hell," Lelouch asked as he was baffled by this development.

Saeko didn't hesitate and crushed the skull of the first undead student that approached before Lelouch drew his gun and shot the oncoming undead students giving Saeko some cover fire as she swiftly delivered another skull breaking blow to the head of another undead teen. It wasn't long before Saeko and Lelouch's efforts made short work of them much to the relief of the two female students.

"Thanks, so are you guys looking to escape the school too," Toshimi asked.

"We are, but we're going to take one of the mini-buses so we can plow through them if need be if the outbreak is worse outside the school," Lelouch replied.

"Yeah we saw some the second floor window a lot of students getting attacked so we were hoping to take cover in the dorms or something." Misuzu explained.

"You two should stick with us…if that is alright with you Lelouch-sama," Saeko asked while Lelouch saw no reason to object since if the outbreak was causing students to turn into mindless creatures then having some extra hands might be a good idea.

"Does anyone know anything about this outbreak?"

Lelouch after asking his question saw Misuzu shake her head while Toshimi's expression was a sure sign that she was just as clueless as her friend was.

"By the way I am Toshimi Niki and this is my best friend Misuzu Ichijou," Toshimi said introducing herself and her friend to Lelouch and Saeko.

"I am Saeko Busujima from third-year class A and this is Lelouch a friend," Saeko while Toshimi and Misuzu were a little nervous about a Britannian but Lelouch eased their worries.

"Don't worry I mean you no harm…I want to survive this as much as you two do, so if we work together we can survive."

"Don't worry he's a good man despite his faults."

"Ok," Misuzu said before a loud noise got their attention, which was the sound of glass shattering and someone screaming.

"That came from the nurse's office," Toshimi pointed out.

Saeko hurried ahead with the others following them as the purple-haired woman opened the door to the nurse's office to see another student being attacked by two students who had become zombies while another pair were advancing on a very tall buxom woman, with ridiculous curves in her late twenties wearing a white coat with a black skirt and high heels on wearing a white dress shirt. She also had long mid-black length blonde hair and hazel eyes with white gloves on.

Saeko swiftly dealt with the undead students before surveying the situation while taking note of the wounded student on the ground who was barely alive while the blonde haired school nurse was unharmed.

"I am captain of the Kendo Club, Saeko Busujima, second year what is your name?"

"Kazu Ishii," the student said weakly as it was obvious he wasn't going to last much longer.

"Kazu-kun you protected Marikawa-sensei well I salute your courage," Saeko said as Shizuka Marikawa was gathering up medical supplies into a bag preparing to leave.

"Thank you, but I need a favor."

"What is it?"

"Please kill me," The man said weakly as his request surprised Saeko including Lelouch, but the former prince was already deducing the reason behind it taking into account the mindless state of the students Saeko had killed. "I don't think you guys know, but if anyone infected bites you…"

"I see," The purple haired woman replied instantly understanding the situation coming to the same conclusion as Lelouch did moments ago. "You don't want your family and friends to see you like that right? I haven't killed anyone before, but I can help you."

"Please…"

"I think you two shouldn't watch this," Lelouch said cautioning Misuzu and Toshimi.

"Huh…wait," Shizuka said trying to intervene.

Saeko stopped her with a gesture.

"You may be the nurse, but I'll have to ask you not to interfere," Saeko said before raising her wooden sword preparing for a killing strike. "Protecting a man's pride is a woman's duty."

With that Saeko brought her wooden blade down killing Kazu instantly.

"_Getting bitten by these infected is a death sentence, which is how this outbreak is spreading so quickly. But if it's spreading here so fast then…" _

Lelouch thought before realizing the dangerous implications of this outbreak just wondering just how fast it's spreading.

"We better go," Saeko said after a moment of silence.

"Right," Lelouch replied bring brought of his thoughts.

"_You can worry about the details later your priority is survival." _

Leaving the nurse's office the group began making their way up the stairs heading for the teacher's lounge to get the keys for the mini-bus in order to escape the school. Passing the windows Lelouch just saw how bad the outbreak truly was as the entire grounds of the academy seemed to have those zombie-like creatures having just about overrun the school.

"_Has the whole city been consumed, but what about Area 11?" _

Lelouch was brought out his thoughts again by the sound of Shizuka tripping and falling to the ground just after Saeko killed another zombie. The young man was already questioning just how Shizuka became a nurse here.

"What else can go wrong today," Shizuka wailed.

"Your attire isn't meant for running," Saeko said pointing out the obvious before ripping the sides of Shizuka's skirt to help her run a little better.

"Awwww this is Prada!"

"Brand-name clothing or your life, which do you value?"

"BOTH," Shizuka replied while Lelouch said nothing but was impressed by how well Saeko was handling the situation.

"The staff lounge should be ahead right," Lelouch asked.

"Yes…let's keep going."

Heading to the source of the scream group soon arrived on a pair of students who likely a similar escape plan in mind, but they had at least a number of zombified students and a few teachers advancing upon them. The first was a slender young woman standing at 5'0, sixteen years of age, with long pink hair styled into two pony tails on the side of her head and fierce orange eyes wearing of course the standard female uniform of the academy students. Her companion, a bit overweight, about her age standing at 5'1 with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes wearing black rimmed glasses dressed in the male black school uniform.

As the zombies were coming at them the young man was trying to reload a nail-gun he had converted into a weapon. Unfortunately the gun ran out leaving the two open to attack, but the pink-haired girl just as she was concerned by an undead teacher drew an electric drill from a bag on the ground before ramming it into the head of the approaching zombie holding it back while splattering blood all over. At that moment two more students, one of them a boy and the other a girl armed with close quarter weapons consisting of a bat and a mop handle fashioned into a spear.

The boy was about the same age as Lelouch as was the girl. The young man standing at an average 5'6 had brown eyes and short spiky black hair wearing the same school uniform as other boys, but his coat was open revealing a red T-shirt with jeans. The seventeen year old girl standing a little shorter than her male companion at 5'3 with long, light-brownish hair, reddish-brown eyes and a slender figure dressed in the typical school uniform of Fujimi Academy with thigh-high black socks.

Lelouch and Saeko exchanged glances with Takashi Komuro and Rei Miyamoto.

"We'll take the right side can you two handle the left," Lelouch asked readying his handgun.

"Sure, Rei hold back the left," Takashi replied as he joined Saeko as the two charged the undead ahead of them.

Lelouch picked off a few while Takashi and Saeko made quick work of the rest of them using blows to the head to take them out.

"Takagi-san," Rei said running over to the pink-haired girl as Saya Takagi was left badly shaken from the ordeal having to kill one of them with a power drill while dangerously close to death.

"Miyamoto," Saya said weakly.

"You ok," Rei asked as Shizuka went to see if she had been injured or worse bitten, but thankfully other than being covered in blood the young woman was unharmed.

"It's clear," Lelouch said not seeing any of _Them _coming as Misuzu and Toshimi joined the group.

"I assume you know Nurse Marikawa, I am Saeko Busujima, third-year from class A," Saeko said.

"Takashi Komuro, Class 2-B," Takashi replied while Rei recognized Saeko.

"You're Busujima-sempai, who won the Kendo Tournament last year. I am Rei Miyamoto from the Spear Club."

"Ah…uh…I am Kohta Hirano from C-Class B."

"Nice to meet you all," Saeko said with a smile.

"What's everyone getting slacked jawed over," Saya said as she began to stand up recovering from the shock of experienced moments ago of killing a zombie.

"What are you talking about Takagi," Takashi asked, but that only caused Saya's temper to flare.

"DON'T MOCK ME I'M A GENUIS," Saya snapped. "If I wanted to, I would never let anyone beat me."

"_Damn it her screaming might attract more of them," _Lelouch thought realizing an intervention was needed but Saeko beat him to it.

"It's okay now, so just stop it already ok," Saeko said turning Saya towards a mirror wall allowing the pink-haired woman to realize she was covered in blood. Her tempter died down and the girl's voice became shaky.

"Awww…uh…I got so dirty…I'll have to ask my mom to take this to the cleaners…uh," Saya said before she finally broke down into tears with Saeko catching her holding her as she cried.

Moments later everyone went into the lounge and wasted no time barricading the doors with tables, small cabinets that weren't bolted down, boxes and anything else they could move. Lelouch assisted them in blocking off the doors giving the group save heaven for now. Toshimi, Misuzu, Saeko, Rei and Shizuka were seated at the tables resting from recent events while Saya was cleaning herself up at a sink trying to get all of the blood off of her and her clothes.

"That will do," Lelouch said breathing heavily.

"Everyone is out of breath," Kohta replied as he was tried out from moving so much stuff around.

"I think we should rest here for a bit," Takashi suggested with no one voicing any objections. "By the way who are you?"

"Oh I am Lelouch Lamperouge a visitor seeing Saeko," Lelouch replied honesty after all he didn't need to give them the details of the exact reason for his visit.

"It's alright Takashi-kun he's ok," Saeko said worried there might be some trouble because Lelouch is Britannian.

"If you're friends then I guess that's ok, but I am surprised you are carrying a gun."

"Well this isn't exactly a Britannian-friendly neighborhood."

"I guess you have a point," Takashi replied aware of relations between Britannians and Japanese in this part of Japan while not exactly friendly but a Britannian or two have sometimes been found dead or beaten up pretty bad in some cases.

"But how did you manage that suppressor? That's illegal to have if you are not with the military. Even if you are a Britannian," Kohta asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that especially now. It's only illegal if you get caught. Besides these things seem attached to sound," Lelouch noted while hoping no one would question him further.

"Yeah I guess you're right and Takagi-san thought the same thing about them," Kohta said before remembering the girl deciding to check on her leaving Lelouch alone while the man was glad no one would ask him about the suppressor any further.

"_That problem solved itself…"_

"Uh…Takagi-san are you alright," Kohta asked timidly as he went over to check on Saya who had finished cleaning herself up, but she was removing her contacts and switching over to a pair of glasses. "Huh…glasses?"

"My contacts keep slipping out," The pink-haired woman snapped.

"Miss Marikawa wasn't it…where are the keys for the mini-bus," Lelouch asked.

"They are on the wall rack over there," Shizuka replied before asking. "A bus is fine and all, but where to?"

"We'll check to make sure all of our families are safe then we'll go somewhere safe," Takashi replied, but after Lelouch grabbed the keys he saw a remote on a table near the rack and then eyed a Television set mounted on the wall near the ceiling in another part of the room. Picking up the remote Lelouch turned on the television set changing the channel to the news to get some information on this outbreak. He needed to know just how bad the situation was.

The situation was of apocalyptic proportions.

* * *

A/N: well that's it for the chapter tell me what you think and I'll have chapter two done in good time I am trying to average close to 10,000 words a chapter. This one might get shortened a bit because of the beginning.


	2. Chapter 2 Pandemic

A/N: Ok I modified chapter one a bit to make the beginning introduction much shorter while achieving my goal of 10,000 words with this chapter including make some corrections. I hope this chapter will not require such modifications and clean up. Anyway to address some of the more general questions asked one of the primary reasons I ended up rewriting the story as I did is due to having made the unforgivable mistake of having the HOTD cast know Lelouch. Saeko and Saya would have been possible to pull off, but Takashi and Rei who are by all accounts just normal civilians with normal parents wouldn't have had a chance in heck. Saeko with the right set of circumstances I created in the last chapter and Saya due to her parents could have had a much higher chance of meeting Lelouch and Nunnally as children. I just couldn't have pulled it off with the last story's set up and it would have been way too far of a stretch.

Now for those upset about the harem being done away with. Well to it put it simply it just got way too out of hand and the idea of pairing Lelouch with Shizuka absolutely cannot work. Granted Shizuka is nice and hot and the reason I am not pairing Shizuka is because I think she is an airhead or anything like that. To put it simply I just cannot see any chemistry going on between them and I have asked the question to a number of authors I know whose answers were more along the lines of WTF. And these authors are both fans of HOTD and CG, but all of them are very serious writers. I did try to work out a way to make it work as stated in my forum, but as I said it simply can't work so don't even try asking me about it or pitching me ideas because it simply can't work. And I got the word of other authors to reinforce my claim if you think you can pull off a Shizuka and Lelouch pairing with believable chemistry without making the characters seriously out of character then you are more than welcomed to write your own crossover on it.

As for other characters in the CG like Kallen I do have a plan for her and others, but as a fair-exchange this time I'll spare Shirley and Rivalz. However this will mean that other characters will end up dead, but that doesn't mean Kallen so nobody worry. She is one character I will never kill off, but at worse she could be injured badly that's it.

Third an interview I was recommended to listen to only completed my decision to rewrite the story.

Anyway enough of my ranting and for those who enjoyed the chapter and the rewrite so far thank you very much. What ideas I had for the original or some of them at least will be employed in this story in one form or another. I would like to thank EpicEbi for pointing out a lot of the problems in the last chapter while I offer a special thanks to AlSmash and Holyknight5 for their help in cleaning up the chapter of mistakes and adding more to it.

On with the chapter!

* * *

Chapter 2

Pandemic

Everyone turned their attention to the television set as Lelouch turned up the volume on a news report he found. Lelouch watched intensively as he watched a female news reporter standing out in a park at the Tokyo Concession where behind her men were loading stretchers with body bags before transporting them into waiting Disease Control vehicles to take them away.

"In response to the riots raging all over Area 11, Viceroy Cornelia li Britannia has enacted emergency countermeasures. All military forces are being deployed to deal with the civil unrest spreading across Area 11." The female news caster reported while Takashi was shocked.

"Riots…civil unrest, just what the hell are they talking about?"

Lelouch, Saya and Saeko quietly listened as the reporter continued.

"Already casualties are exceeding over one thousand, civil service officials are requesting relief aid from neighboring Areas including the homeland and," The newscaster began but stopped when she heard gunshots. "There are gunshots, police have started firing. I don't know the situation, but…no…stay back!"

The news reporter cried out as her cameraman was attacked dropping his camera before a horde of zombies advanced on her. The signal cut off revealing a stand by message before two men behind a desk inside the television studio came on. Both of them were shaken, but they regained their composure before speaking.

"We seem to be having technical difficulties; we will give you coverage from the studio."

"What the hell…we just saw that, those corpses got up and then a bunch of them attacked that woman. How can they just label it as civil unrest," Takashi exclaimed in horror.

"It's simple they don't want to incite a panic," Saya said with one hand to her chin while Lelouch silently agreed with her.

"Isn't it kinda late for that?" Rei asked while Saya replied.

"This is the perfect time for it," Saya said as Lelouch kept his attention on the news report with his hand gripping the remote tightly as he was now fearful for Nunnally's safety.

"The streets are a very dangerous place now, so please refrain from leaving your homes if possible. Also if you can please barricade your doors and windows where you can, but if for whatever reason you are unable to be in your home then please head for the nearest shelter in your area." The news anchorman reported before Lelouch changed the channel to the world news.

"Authorities cannot find a solution to the abnormal situation that has spread across Europe and the rest of the world, Executives have abandoned the Pendragon Royal Palace in the homeland, but rumors are that none of the royal family was able to escape with Charles zi Britannia counted among the causalities. There are unconfirmed reports of a violent outbreak happening from within the palace itself, but we do know that leaders and some members of the government have fled the royal palace. Our experts believe this move was in preparation for the use of napalm bombs authorizing an aerial strike on heavily infected areas. Elsewhere in the world we have lost contact with Moscow while The Forbidden City in the Chinese Federation is in flames. London is keeping relative order, but there are reports of looting rampant in Pairs and Rome."

"Oh my god," Misuzu said as she and Toshimi were horrified of the situation.

"Well how do you tell the world about what is happening? We are having a hard time taking it in ourselves," Saya began before she added. "The government won't say it because if everyone panics then that will be it. Fear gives rise to chaos; chaos gives rise to the collapse of social order. When social order collapses then you may as well just give the world to the walking dead."

"I can't believe this is happening, the entire world," Rei said fearfully holding onto Takashi's arm after Saya finished her statement before the television signal went out, which also brought Lelouch out of his thoughts.

"When I was on the internet this morning everything was fine," Kohta commented.

"The whole world has gone to hell in just a few hours," Saeko said grimly as Toshimi spoke up trying to sound hopeful.

"Well there has to be somewhere safe right, things will go back to normal right?"

"Fat chance," Saya said bluntly.

"You don't have to be so blunt about it," Takashi commented.

"This is a pandemic got it, there is nothing we can do about it."

"A pandemic," Shizuka said worried, but she knew Saya had hit the nail on that one.

"We're talking an explosive infection, as in the same illness breaking out all over the world like cholera." Saya explained before she continued. "Take for the sixth cholera pandemic that happened in 1844 A.T.B. and ended around 1868. The European Nations of the E.U. were not as hit badly as they were in the fifth cholera pandemic due to medical advances, but countries like Russia was badly affected with more than 500,000 people dying of cholera and killed more than 800,000 in India. Then later the cholera epidemic claimed over 200,000 lives in the Philippines."

"That would be more like the Black Death of the 14th century," Shizuka pointed out.

"Back then, a third of Europe's population died," Saya said remembering hearing about that in history class.

"How did it stop," Takashi asked.

"No one is sure, but there are theories…one of them suggest that when enough people die it just peters out because there was nobody left to infect," Shizuka explained

"But everyone who dies, get back up and attack others." Kohta said as he looked out the window to see the devastation the outbreak has inflicted upon the Academy as he saw the grounds filled with a large number of undead students.

"Meaning there is no real reason for it to stop," Saeko said while Shizuka suddenly had an idea.

"The weather should be warming up soon so if the flesh rots off and there is only bone they might stop moving."

"How long will that take," Saeko asked.

"In the summer it takes about twenty days while in the winter it will take several months but that will take too long," Shizuka answered as she was even counting the months with her fingers.

"We don't even know if they will rot, after all corpses reanimating defies all modern science so for all we know it could take forever for that to happen." Saya concluded as Lelouch chose this time to speak.

"If this is a pandemic then running around won't help."

Lelouch knew, although he wanted to go back to Ashford and help his sister, that with the situation as bad as this attempting to get back to Ashford alone would be suicide. Even with Saeko helping him his chances are still low.

"I agree…I believe we should stick together if we are to survive," Saeko coming to a similar conclusion as Lelouch did. "We should gather other survivors and form a team."

"Right we can check on our families and then go to a safe place to decide our next move," Takashi said while Lelouch remained silent as considering the entire group was made up of Japanese Highschool students and he was the only Britannian among them they were not likely to take orders from a stranger. He considered using his Geass but for now decided against that for now.

"_I may have to end up using Geass on every person we come across or pick up." _

"The parking lot is the closest if we leave through the front entrance," Takashi suggested before Lelouch pointed out.

"We'll probably encounter a large number of those things there through. If anything the main entrance will be a choke point."

"I know, but the risk is probably the same if we leave through any other entrance or exit."

"I agree, but I suggest we should at least get those who don't have a weapon something to fight back with." Lelouch suggested taking into account the condition of the unarmed members of the group.

"He's right," Rei said in agreement. "If we're going to go through the main entrance we should probably get some better weapons if we can."

"Is there by any chance a locker or something in here that teachers look up contraband or anything that wouldn't be allowed on campus?" Lelouch asked Shizuka.

"Come to think of it there is," Shizuka replied showing Lelouch a tall white cabinet that was as tall as he was.

Using a key on the ring she carried holding keys for a number of rooms and doors in the facility she unlocked it. He found a wooden bin on the right hand side containing the large contraband like a wooden base bat with a nail through it and a lead pipe. On the left hand side there were four shelf-like pull out bins filled with smaller objects like an air-pellet gun along with a few other miscellaneous items like music players and such.

"_Music Player," _Lelouch thought as an idea came to mind. After going through some of the ones inside the middle bin he picked out one after making sure it had both a built-in external speaker and a charge before pocketing it. The device was about the size of a standard wallet, black in color with an LCD screen above the built-in speaker with buttons on the side for browsing playlists and etc.

"I doubt the air-gun will do any good, but these," Lelouch said taking the pipe and the bat handing them to Misuzu and Toshimi. "I think you two should take these if we're lucky we won't have to use them."

The two girls were understandably nervous about it, but they understood the situation and accepted the weapons. Misuzu took the bat with the nail through it while her best friend took the pipe. But Lelouch decided to give the air-gun to Saya.

"Why are you giving me that?"

"It may not be effective on those zombies, but after this we might have more than zombies to worry about. It looks like a real gun, so." Lelouch began as Saya understood what Lelouch was getting at before accepting the weapon putting it into the backpack she was carrying.

"Try to aim for the head if you can, but no matter what happens you have to keep up with us," Takashi advised.

"Sure thing," Misuzu replied while her best friend nodded.

"These guys react to sound and they are strong enough to rip down doors if they catch you they'll eat you so watch yourselves," Saya warned.

"There is no need to fight needlessly just knocking them over will do," Saeko added.

"Right let's get ready to move out," Takashi said as he, Kohta and Lelouch began taking down their barricade to open the doors.

Once it was cleared the group proceeded out of the lounge with Rei, Takashi taking point while Saeko hung back with Kohta to provide support to either the rear or front. Lelouch stayed with Shizuka and the other two girls with his weapon ready. Fortunately the group didn't run into any more of _Them, _but as they neared the stairwell they heard a scream. Below them was a group of five students consisting of three boys and two female students. The obvious leader of the group was a young man around Takashi's age with black hair and brown eyes wearing a sports towel around his neck over his student uniform armed with a baseball bat.

"_I am actually surprised there are more survivors," _Lelouch thought having expected that he and Takashi's group were probably the only ones left. On the other hand it wasn't unreasonable that some pockets of survivors like the one below them probably had managed to hole themselves up in a corner of the school and were only trying now to leave the grounds. Anticipating what Takashi would do and following Kohta's lead Lelouch fired a single shot from his weapon nailing one of the zombies closest to the trapped students while Kohta nailed another in the head. Takashi followed by Saeko attacked the remaining zombies and made short work of them.

"Thank…" A female student with medium-length page-boy style raven colored hair and hazel eyes including freckles on her cheeks began before Saeko cut her off.

"Not so loud…sound attracts them."

"Was anybody bitten?" Takashi inquired.

"Uh nobody was," Naomi said quickly waving her hands in front defensively.

"It's ok no one has been bitten," Rei replied relived after checking them over.

"We're getting out of here do you guys want to come along?" Takashi asked as the group's leader Takuzo looked to his girlfriend Naomi before nodding in agreement.

The group proceeded cautiously and quietly, but when they reached the main entrance just as Lelouch both predicted and feared there were a large number of zombified students blocking the way out. From what the black-haired young man could guess that had to be over a dozen of them with possibly more right outside.

"There is a ton of them," Takashi pointed out.

"_I wish for once I would be wrong," _Lelouch thought wishing there wouldn't have been as many as he predicted there would be.

"They can't see us so there is no point hiding." Saya commented.

"Then prove it Takagi." Takashi asked which made the young woman nervous.

"Even if Takagi's theory is correct we can't go anywhere quietly with all of these people," Rei said while Saeko had her own concerns to voice.

"But if we remain in the school we'll be too crowded in to move if we're attacked, we will be overwhelmed."

"Then we have to make a break for the front door," Rei added before Lelouch pointed out.

"That would be suicide…even if we could get pass the ones here there are even a lot more of them outside. Any noise we make in here fighting them off will likely attract the others outside the building."

"Then the only option is that somebody has to clear a path." Saeko said which lead to an uneasy silence to come across the group until Takashi broke the silence.

"Ok I'll go."

"No Takashi I should go," Rei said quickly rejecting the idea.

"I should go first," Saeko said before Takashi held up his bat.

"No Busujima-sempai I need you here just in case anything happens."

"Just why Takashi…I thought everything was a hassle for you?"

"I don't know, but it still is."

"Wait before you go…we need something to distract the ones outside too," Lelouch said as he drew the music player from his pocket. Takashi understood Lelouch's intent upon seeing it.

"I get it play something really loud on that thing to divert their attention right?"

"Exactly, pick a loud song and something we a delayed start but the only problem is if you throw it the thing won't work."

"Got it…I'll figure out something." Takashi said pocketing the device before boldly walking out into the middle of the room ahead near the door while everyone nervously waited to see what would happen. Takashi was reasonably shaking all over as a few of the zombie students came close to him, but they staggered pass him ignoring him completely. As he stood there out in the open as the zombies ignored his presence as he was as quiet as humanly possible.

"_I guess Takagi is right they can't see me…in that case." _

Takashi thought as he picked up a shoe he noticed on the ground tossing down a hallway off to the side to get the zombies to leave the area. It impacted on the ground making a noise loud enough to get their attention as the zombies slowly moved away clearing a path for the group. Takashi opened the doors and before he brought out the music player. He quietly walked off to the side and placed the player by the side of the building a safe distance away from the doors and the parking lot. Takashi went through the song playlist trying to find something loud. After finding a song he programmed the alarm to go off in two minutes which should give him enough time to get away.

"_Ok I guess this will have to do? Here goes nothing." _

Takashi thought as he set the song on repeat, turning the volume all the way up before moving away as quickly yet quietly as he could make his back to the doors just as everyone was approaching the doors. Two minutes later the alarm went off as a song by Kisida Kyodan and The Akebosi Rockets began to play. The plan worked and the music drew their attention away. Lelouch was relived his idea worked as like Saya he had observed that the undead students reacted to sound and had pocketed the music player to use as a diversion. Nobody wasted time as the group cautiously made a break for the bus as the zombies were drawn to the loud music. Shizuka, Takashi and Rei were among the first to reach the bus soon followed by Lelouch, Kohta, Saya and the members of Takuzo's group.

As Shizuka climbed into the driver's seat putting the bus key in getting ready to start the vehicle, despite it being different from her car she figure it out, just as the last of Takuzo's group got aboard with Misuzu and Toshimi already aboard. However despite how things had gone so smoothly an unexpected factor to events happened as another group of survivors foolishly began making another break for the bus. They were lead by a tall and thin teacher wearing a black pinstripe suit with yellow tie wearing black framed glasses.

"PLEASE WAIT FOR US," Koichi Shido shouted out foolishly getting the attention of the zombie horde.

"_That idiot," _Lelouch cursed mentally.

"Its Shido from third-year class A," Saeko said with a scowl.

"Shido!" Rei recognized the name with her face twisting into barely restrained fury.

"We're leaving now!" Shizuka said starting up the engine.

"Please wait a little bit longer," Takashi asked.

"They are beginning to get in front of us if we wait too long waiting for everyone then we won't be able to go at all!" Shizuka pointed out as there were still some of _Them _ahead near the open parking gate.

"Just run them over!"

"But all of those people could flip us!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAVE HIM," Rei snapped suddenly stopping Takashi from saving the teacher and the students running ahead of him.

"REI WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"You don't have to save him he is better off dead!"

Diverting his attention from the argument Lelouch was observing he looked outside as Shido to all appearances was doing what any respectable teacher might do and assure the safety of his students. But taking into account Saeko's way of saying his name and Rei's reactions to him it was obvious to Lelouch there was something seriously not right about this guy.

And his suspicions were proven moments later.

"Hurry everyone I promise to save you," Shido shouted directing the students to the bus.

"Yes sir sensei," a student called out while Shido's eyes narrowed.

"_But at this rate I am not so sure we'll make it." _

Suddenly Shido noticed someone grabbing his leg calling out to him. It was a male student with black hair wearing glasses who had twisted his ankle running.

"Sensei, please help me. It's my ankle."

"Oh my in that case…this is the end of the line for you." Shido said with a smile before viciously kicking the young man in the face breaking his glasses leaving him screaming in pain. The teacher left the student to die as a horde of undead students descended upon the poor student like a school of piranhas in a feeding frenzy. "The old world is over and if you don't have what it takes then you don't deserve to survive."

Lelouch saw that whatever ill feelings Rei and Saeko had for Shido were justified and was about to use his weapon to take Shido out.

However a hand stopped him, Saya stopped Lelouch.

"You should put that away now before anyone sees it," Saya advised.

"That guy is going to be trouble."

"I agree with you, but right now killing a teacher in front of students with tensions as they are now could become problematic. Especially for a Britannian like you right?"

Lelouch took a deep breath before putting away his weapon. Saya was right, because Lelouch reasoned that despite being convinced that Shido should have been killed on the spot it would ultimately do more harm than good at this very moment. Their priority now was to escape before the zombie horde could get them, but if Shido became a problem like Lelouch knows he would then he would deal with him one way or the other depending on the situation.

"_If I have to I'll use my Geass to defend myself, but I can't use it carelessly especially with Saeko around." _Lelough thought not wishing to loose the woman's trust.

"Marikawa-sensei," Shido said recognizing the nurse behind the driver seat.

"Hold on!" Shizuka pushed down on the gas pedal as the bus sped towards the open gate with only five zombified students in their path.

"You saved us, is the leader here Busujima-san?"

"No one is in charge," Saeko said with her arms crossed across her chest while glaring at Shido. "We just helped you get away that's all."

"They are not human anymore," Shizuka said to herself as she accelerated at the students. "They are not human anymore!"

The bus plowed through the undead students as the bus made a clean get away. They had escaped the school, but Lelouch knew the real danger was just beginning as the former prince eyed Shido as an unsettling smile appeared on his face.

"That won't do. One needs leadership to survive a leader to set up goals and to protect the social order," Shido said while Rei was furious over Shido's presence.

"I swear you are going to regret this! You are going to regret saving him," Rei snapped while looking at Takashi with a lot of anger in her eyes.

"_I don't doubt that in the least." _

Lelouch thought as he knew that Shido would be a problem from what he had already observed. The young man knowing he was the only Britannian among the group remained quiet as he sat behind Shizuka with Saeko sitting next to him while Takashi sat in the seat to his left with Kohta, Saya and Rei occupying the seat behind him despite it being a tight fit. Misuzu and Toshima sat behind Saya and Kohta while everyone else was seated around the bus with Shido standing near the back. Everything was quiet for the most part until the bus got onto the highway, which was a bad idea to Lelouch.

Everyone was either tense from what was happening outside, terrified or both. Lelouch couldn't really blame any of them where just a short time ago the day was as normal as any other day before suddenly without warning all hell broke loose with the whole world seemingly being overran with zombies. Lelouch was already processing a series of different outcomes and scenarios in his mind.

"_Depending on the situation Britannia has a better chance of wreathing this zombie outbreak than the European Union due to their Knightmare Frames as does the Chinese Federation. But can change depending on how well the two countries have weathered the initial outbreak?" _

Lelouch reasoned that the use of Knightmare Frames would make dealing with the outbreak more manageable for Britannia in Area 11 and in other Areas including the homeland. But the question of just how much damage did the country as a whole incur during the initial outbreak. Lelouch deduced that much of the world was likely caught off guard by the suddenness of the outbreak and how rapidly it spread so death tolls would be extremely high. The death toll would climb in the next couple days depending on how the world reacts to the situation and how much their ability to contain and deal with the zombie outbreak is intact.

"_If the Britannian Forces haven't already figured out that this outbreak is transmitted by one of them biting a victim and then trying to still treat them as human could be problematic." _

This would especially be hard on those with families who might have their wife or children get turned into one of them which could result in them either getting killed by their own zombified friends or families or they would go insane over the experience. Of course for Area 11 there was the fact that an invasion had hit the Kyushu Area not too long ago so the Britannians may still be reeling from that still which could affect the situation in one way or another.

"_The situation can go from bad to worse at this point, but it depends on how Cornelia…" _

Lelouch was thinking when his thought process was interrupted by an outburst from a student they had rescued. He wore the typical male uniform wearing a blue-high collar sweater underneath with brown hair, but the top part of his hair was dyed blonde with brown eyes with a large build.

"WHY SHOULD WE GO ALONG WITH KOMURO AND THESE GUYS?" Tsunoda shouted before adding. "You're the only ones who decided to go back into town!"

Lelouch remained quiet as no one spoke a word.

"Shouldn't we have looked for a safe place in the dorms or in the school?"

"_Like that would have been a good idea with zombies overrunning the place? You idiot, so how would you last without supplies. Furthermore what's to stop Britannia from firebombing the school and the surrounding area?" _

Lelouch thought as he felt his brain go numb from the stupidity he heard the student spew out, but he felt his head throb in pain when another idiot spoke up. This time a student shorter than the first had long black hair growing over his dilated eyes. Unlike other male students he wasn't wearing the black uniform jacket instead just a long-sleeved white shirt that wasn't tucked in.

"He's right," Kurokami began before he continued on. "If we keep this up then we're just putting ourselves in danger. We should hole ourselves up somewhere like at that convenience store we just drove by?"

"_You'll have supplies yes, but considering the number of people on this bus you would burn through them fairly quickly. Also without weapons a convenience store can be broken into by a horde of those things smashing through the shop windows. It's a bad place to hole yourself up at especially since more desperate survivors might kill you for the food and drinks inside unwilling to share."_

Lelouch looked over his shoulder and saw Saya's right eye twitching leaving the young man to wonder if the two were in agreement on the others' ideas.

"Stop it I can't drive like this!" Shizuka shouted as the woman turned the bus sharply evading some wreckage.

"What's your problem?" Tsunoda said to Takashi obviously looking to vent his anger out on someone. "What are you looking at want to fight?"

"Then what do you want to do?" Saeko demanded glaring at the student.

"_Great just what we need a demonstration of alpha male superiority," _Lelouch thought rolling his eyes while the temptation to use his Geass on the idiot grew increasingly tempting.

"I don't like him, I don't like this guy! Acting like he is all tough shit," Tsunoda snapped pointing his right index finger at Takashi as Rei was becoming fed up with Tsunoda's stupidity. Kohta was about to intervene, but Saya stopped him.

"Where are you getting that? When did I say anything to you?" Takashi asked as Rei got up glaring daggers at the student looming over Takashi.

"_You shouldn't waste your breath on him." _

Without a word Rei jabbed Tsunoda in the side hard which was enough to send the moron to his knees while coughing up saliva. Her actions surprised the majority of the bus's passengers, but Lelouch having been keeping a watch on all of its passengers including Shido knew something like this is what he was waiting for.

"You scum!" Rei spat as Shido approached the two clapping his hands.

"Most impressive Miyamoto-san and Komuro-kun your team work was superb, but," Shido began as his eyes narrowed. "If fights are going to break out like this then that only backs-up my position. That's why we need a leader one of us."

"I take it there is only one candidate for the job?" Saya said as she seemingly came to a similar conclusion as Lelouch that Shido was waiting for a fight or a disagreement to break out to win over the other students.

"I am a teacher Takagi-san while everyone else is a student, which alone speaks volumes to my merit." Shido turned to address the rest of the students on the mini-bus. "So how about it everyone chose me to be leader? I'll do whatever it takes to keep problems at bay and ensure our survival?"

Everyone with the exception of Takashi, Rei, Saya, Kohta, Lelouch, Misuzu and Toshimi weren't not clapping while the rest of the passengers eager to appoint Shido as the leader. But Lelouch wasn't a student and even so he couldn't dissuade the situation anymore than Rei and Takashi could. Shido had more than half of the people on his bus on his side.

"So there you have it! I am now the leader from this moment on," Shido declared which prompted Rei to angrily leave the bus by opening up the door on the left side and leap from the bus when Shizuka refused to stop.

"REI," Takashi called out.

"I WON'T HAVE IT I WON'T BE ANYWHERE NEAR THAT GUY!"

"If she is saying she cannot go along with our group then there is nothing we can do about it." Shido said casually.

"What are you saying you?" Takashi said as his own anger was reaching a high point as well as he was likely regretting at this point saving Shido's life.

"Just put up with him until we get to town it's dangerous out here?"

"I told you Takashi that you would regret it," Rei snapped with tears in her eyes.

Before the discussion could go any further a public bus was speeding towards them while onboard its passengers had for the most part had been killed by passengers who had become zombies while onboard after getting bitten with one passenger and the driver being the last to get attacked. The bus hit a wrecked car before flipping over onto its side and exploding near Takashi and Rei with the young man shielding the woman from the explosion.

They were unharmed for the most part thankfully, but they had been cut off from the bus.

"Komuro-kun, are you ok?" Saeko called out.

"Let's meet up at the East Police Station." Takashi shouted.

"What time?"

"Five, but if not today we'll meet there tomorrow at the same time."

"Nurse Marikawa-sensei we can't go this way anymore," Saeko said closing the door to the bus.

"Okay I am going to try and go back to try a different route." Shizuka said as she turned the bus around before it drove off leaving Takashi and Rei on their own to fend for their own survival. Lelouch watched the scene quietly as he began predicting the two's chances of surviving. Based on what he had seen of them Rei and Takashi had a good chance of surviving provided they can avoid any large hordes of _them_.

"_But getting away from Shido's group now is the only problem remaining. I'll wait until we're in town before we leave and I got a feeling I won't be alone besides Saeko." _

Lelouch kept quiet as he rarely spoke while trying to avoid drawing Shido's attention and any of that of his faithful followers he won over. Despite all of his speeches he had been given you may as well call it the early steps of brainwashing and Saya including Saeko realized it. Roughly an hour passed since Rei and Takashi were left behind as the bus was now caught in traffic as it was entering the city.

"_Everyone is trying to escape, but Britannia is likely enforcing lock-downs and isolating areas of Area 11 to contain the outbreak. We would be faster going on foot at this stage maybe a day or two after the initial outbreak using transport would be possible."_

"This is not the time to forget our pride as students of Fujimi Academy! And it goes to show that Miyamoto-san and Komuro-kun were unfit to be our comrades so let us unite to survive! We must combine our strength to make it through these hard times."

"This is seriously bad," Saya said as Lelouch finally spoke.

"I agree with you completely."

"Indeed it sounds like an invitation to a new religion." Saeko noted.

"It's not like its downright is a new religion. We're witnessing the birth of the Order of Shido," Saya replied as Lelouch was in complete agreement.

"Look at them listening to him? He has them completely enthralled under his influence," Lelouch pointed out.

"With the roads as they are now we have a better chance right now of making a break for it on foot and putting some distance." Lelouch said as the roads were jammed with cars.

"We need to reach the Onbetsu Bridge to reach the Eastern Police Station to meet up with Takashi-kun and Rei-san," Saeko noted.

"Those two probably have a high chance of surviving despite the situation, but near the Onbetsu Bridge I believe Tokonosu Castle is near it right?"

"Yes I believe it is Lelouch-sama, but I have never been to that area," Saeko replied.

"If we get off we'll head there because across from there is a place I know which could help us improve our chances for survival?"

"What do you mean?" Kohta asked interested in the subject.

"I'll explain when we get there, but depending on the time of day when we get there we might have to consider lying low for the night." Lelouch explained.

"For the night?" Kohta seemed perplexed but Saeko and Saya understood why.

"It's going be dark and we would be more at risk of getting attacked and overwhelmed at night." Saya answered as Lelouch nodded.

"I could help with that," Shizuka said joining the conversation. "My friend has a place near the castle that is walking distance from there."

"Is it your man's pad?" Saya said teasingly.

"Oh no," A flushed and blushing Shizuka said waving her hands defensively. "It's the home of a female friend of mine. "She is always working and hardly home so I usually come by and air out the place and keep it tidy."

"Is it a condo then? Can you get a good view of the area?" Kohta inquired.

"Uh sure it's on the riverfront and it's a maisonette with a convenience store right to it, also she left me her car and its built like a tank it's huge."

"We are going to need transportation, but we'll take a look when we get there. Either way the supplies from the safe house across from the castle should help us a lot. Also it puts us in a likely location Rei and Takashi will pass through to reach the Eastern Police Station giving us a chance to intercept them."

"I guess we have a game plan then Lelouch-kun wasn't it?" Saya asked as Lelouch nodded before turning back to Shizuka. "So does this mean you intend to come with us?"

"Yes I would like to go with you."

"Are you sure about that?" Saya inquired.

"I don't have any family in this area, but I know it's not nice of me to say this but I really don't like Shido-sensei that much."

"Then it's settled," Lelouch replied with a smirk.

"What's going on with everybody we need everybody to coöperate," Shido said noticing the discussion taking place at the front of the bus.

"No thanks Shido-sensei we got our own plans and goals in mind. This isn't some field trip so we don't have to follow your lead," Saya said which caused Tsunoda to get upset, but Shido surprisingly took it well. But Lelouch reached for his gun anticipating what the bastard was likely going to pull next.

"I see…if you decided on that then do what you please Takagi-san, but…we can't have that with you Marikawa-sensei your skills as a nurse would be an unacceptable loss. Now wouldn't you stay for the sake of the students here? After we secure a location for ourselves we would have no objections allowing you to rejoin Takagi-san's group."

"How about flat-out no," Lelouch said as he was just about fed up with Shido was more than eager to put a bullet in his head as he drew out his handgun pointing it at Shido while Kohta assumed a defensive stance with Lelouch aiming his nail gun. Shido's eyes widened at the gun Lelouch was armed with.

"I don't think I have seen you before?"

"I am nobody worth mentioning just a Britannia teenager who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, nothing more and nothing less than that." Lelouch leveled his weapon while resisting the urge to kill Shido on the spot. Just something about the man just rubbed him the wrong way. "Marikawa-sensei has no wish to be with your group isn't that right?"

"Yes I am going with them!"

"You can try to stop us, but I would ill-advise that. You may have won over these teenagers but I don't see a single one of them with a ranged weapon so how many of your followers could I kill before they get close to me? Then let's not forget this gentleman next to me with the nail-gun and Saeko-sama so just try it I dare you." Lelouch replied with the all-knowing smirk on his face.

Shido realized trying to stop them head on would be suicide so he decided to try another way.

"Kohta-kun you are not a violent student right," Shido began but his words were cut short as a nail flew pass his ship grazing his cheek.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE I KILLED AT SCHOOL?" Kohta snapped as it seemed that like Lelouch he was fighting the temptation to kill Shido on the spot. "And you have done nothing but mock me from the very beginning! I have put up this all this time. I have put up with it all of the time because I wanted to live a normal life. But that is not necessary anymore; normalcy has no meaning to me. After all I can kill the living."

Shido was now shaking in fright as he tried to talk to Kohta, but no words could leave his lips.

"Kohta-kun wasn't it?" Lelouch asked before Kohta nodded. "Don't kill him?"

"Huh? Why, do you believe he is right?"

"Oh absolutely not, but I merely think that using nails on a walking piece of scum is lamentable waste of ammo."

"You…you're right, but I'll make him hurt if he pulls anything."

"Fair enough...I think you and I are going to get along fine."

"Busujima-sempai and Lelouch-kun you two get off first I'll bring up the rear."

"Spoken like a true man Kohta-kun," Saeko replied with a smile.

"I'll provide coverage from outside," Lelouch replied with a grin as he was about to leave but Misuzu and Toshimi spoke up.

"Excuse me Lelouch-kun could we come with you?" Toshimi said as both girls seemed scared.

"Shido-sensei speeches and the way Tsunoda is looking at Toshimi…we rather take our chances with you guys if you don't mind." Misuzu said with a look of fear in her eyes.

"Alright go now," Lelouch said after a moment of consideration. Misuzu and Toshimi wasted no time leaving the bus joining up with Saeko and Saya. Shizuka left next with Lelouch stopping at the doors addressing the students. "Anyone else wish to come?"

No one answered him some were either too scarred or were enthralled by Shido to break away.

"Very well this was your only chance remember that, but as for you Shido." Lelouch said glaring at the teacher. "You might be a teacher, but you need to learn to respect royalty. As for the rest of you we'll see how long you will last since your fearless leader won't hesitate to kick a student in the face to ensure he survives. I thought you would like to know that."

Lelouch with a devilish smile on his face exited the bus with Kohta following next slamming the door behind him as the group wasted no time putting as much distance between them and the bus as possible. Lelouch considered compromising the bus' motor by shooting its battery, but knowing he might need every bullet he can get not knowing what was ahead he decided against it. Once they were safe the group stopped to take some breaths.

"I don't know this area very well?" Saeko said while Saya noted.

"We just need to figure out where the Onbetsu bridge is."

"Are you two going to be alright?"

"We're going to fine now Lelouch-kun," Misuzu answered.

"I am sorry but we were becoming frightened of Shido and how some of the students were looking at him and Tsunoda that pervert I am worried what might happen with Shido in charge." Toshimi added as the girl was trembling from the very idea but Misuzu comforted her.

"Besides you guys have weapons and Saeko took down more of those zombies than anyone else so far, so…."

"I see," Lelouch began with a confidant smile. "All things considered I don't think I can hardly blame you two for tagging along."

"You'll be safe with us." Saeko said with an assuring smile.

"So this safe house Lelouch-kun what does it have?" Saya asked with Lelouch simply answering.

"You'll see when we get there. Better if you guys see if for yourselves."

* * *

Saya and Lelouch navigated the group through the city heading for the riverfront which their journey was thankfully zombie free, but just the same the group was on their guard with weapons at the ready for anything. Eventually the two arrived at Tokonosu Castle overlooking the riverfront. Their trip had taken a couple hours of walking, but so far no undead in sight…yet. But the group did come across an unexpected surprise as they stopped in front of Tokonosu Castle for a break although their destination was a short walk away. Still everyone including Lelouch was worn out from walking, but the bright side of their situation was that there were no zombies.

"SENSEI!" Rei shouted as he hugged the busty nurse.

"Oh Miyamoto-san and Komuro-kun too," Shizuka said happily.

"Well I guess you called it Lelouch-sama," Saeko said with a grin. "Lelouch was certain you guys were going to make it you."

"Well thanks for the vote of confidence." Takashi replied with a smirk.

"I see you two have had some good luck come your way and you two have been resourceful too I see?" Lelouch said taking note of the motorbike Takashi had along with the baton stick Rei had and lastly the police handgun Takashi was carrying.

"We got lucky with the bike, but we did have a close one or two." Takashi explained before asking. "What about you guys, what happened?"

"We ditched Shido's little cult he was trying to create, these two came with us as well. We were going to a place I know that has some supplies we can use. From what I can see I think the Britannian Police Force has locked down the bridges I assume." Lelouch said as he could barely make out the Knightpolice Frames of the Britannian Police force setting up a road block. The sound of anti-personal guns firing provided a clearer sign.

"HEY ARE YOU FORGETTING ME TAKASHI?" Saya said angrily pinching Takashi's cheek.

"Ow…I am sorry Takagi-san and hello Kohta-kun."

"Maybe you can tell us all about it later," Saeko said as the group felt rested with the good news they received.

"So where is this place you guys are going?" Rei inquired.

A short time later Lelouch led the group to a closed down game center called Crown Center Arcade that had the windows boarded up along with the door. The group was understandably confused, but Lelouch went around back to the service entrance where he selected a key he picked up a key ring he carried in his pocket. The black-haired young man opened the door before everyone followed him inside.

"Are you sure this place has supplies Lelouch-kun?" Kohta inquired.

"It does, but they are hidden."

"Where?" Takashi asked before Lelouch answered simply walking into a supply closest where Lelouch moved a large box filled with old stuffed animals. Feeling the titled floor on the ground Lelouch found a hidden switch concealed on the floor. A popping sound was heard as a hidden hatch was revealed surprising the group.

"Is that a secret room?" Rei asked surprised.

"It's a mix between a safe house and supply storage area used by the Order of the Black Knights." Lelouch answered as everyone with the exception of Saeko were rendered speechless.

"Wait…then are you…a member?" Kohta said recovering after that shocking revelation.

"I am in a matter of speaking so I knew about this place. This is used to store weapons and extra supplies while it can double as a safe house for some of our members. This was used by the Tokonosu Black Knight Cell until their base was comprised a couple months ago. Fortunately this place was never comprised as most of the Tokonosu Cell members who knew about this place were killed in the raid."

"I assume you must be a high ranking member to know about this place?" Saya pointed out eyeing Lelouch suspiciously. "Besides aren't you a Britannian in a Japanese resistance organization?"

"You have a point Takagi-san and I can understand your confusion over my involvement. However I can assure you that I am a member of the Black Knights and one of the rare Britannian members in the organization. A majority act as informants and such we even have an Indian in the organization so we're not limited to accepting just Japanese members."

"But how are you involved with this group what is your role in it?" Saya demanded as Lelouch descended down the stairs leading into the underground room.

"I am…a special case, but I cannot go further into details?"

"Don't worry Takagi-san you can trust him." Saeko said trying to ease any concerns the group might have about Lelouch.

"Won't you get in trouble or something?" Shizuka asked.

"Given the situation I doubt my superiors will mind. Besides we kinda need the supplies right now and there are weapons here."

"You got military weapons down there?" Kohta asked with a glint in his eyes.

"Of course," Lelouch replied as he turned on the lights just as Kohta rushed down into the secret room.

"OH MAMA!" Kohta exclaimed happily as a kid being let into a candy store. Everyone else went down into the hidden room and jaws dropped at the supplies they saw. Besides barrels and crates they saw weapon racks filled with an assortment of military-grade weaponry including shelves with supplies ranging from MRE packs to medical kits.

"Holy shit look at all of this stuff," Takashi said wide eyed.

"There is enough stuff down here to wage a small war or something," Rei said but no one was willing to look a gift horse in the mouth and considering the situation they were in they were going to need whatever they can get their hands on to survive.

Takashi considered what had happened at that electric station he and Rei came to refill the motorbike's batter to power its electric motor they got after killing its former undead owner finding the abandoned bike. It was running low on energy as they got further into town, but along the way they found a crashed Britannian Police Patrol car raiding it of whatever weapons they could find such as the handgun. The second handgun the second office found dead with his partner was damaged so they removed the magazine which was in pristine condition. Other than a pair of handcuffs they found a baton which the duo claimed before moving on. When they got to the electric station to refill that was when the group hit a problematic spot as another survivor approached them.

However the situation was different the survivor was hostile and clearly insane.

* * *

As Rei was standing by one of the recharge stations waiting for Takashi to return so they could begin recharging the bike she was grabbed from behind by a tall Japanese man with tanned skin and braces. He was dresses in a black T-shirt, basketball shorts, and sneakers with no laces. The thug also had an earring on one ear, two silver necklaces wearing a handkerchief tied on his head, covered with a white baseball cap. He was holding Rei captive with his right hand while he held a butterfly knife to her throat with his left.

The thug began laughing manically as Takashi returned to Rei shocked to see her in a hostage situation before the thug commented.

"Cute girlfriend you got here kid…"

"Let Rei go!"

Takashi held the baseball bat ready to attack the thug, but the man kept the knife too close to Rei's throat making it impossible for him to attack the man without Rei getting killed.

"In your dreams kid, in a world overrun by monsters you need a girl to survive."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"LOST MY MIND," The thug shouted flying into a rant. "No shit I lost my mind…my family turned into _Them _right before my eyes…I…I…smashed their heads in. My mom, dad, granny, my little brother and even my little sister so HOW CAN I KEEP SANE AFTER THAT?"

The thug began laughing like a psychopath, but it was already obvious that the man had completely lost his mind as he began groping Rei which only angered Takashi.

"She has a great voice, she even totally stacked…they are huge. I bet you guys are going at it every night like a pair of rabbits," The thug said before he realized. "What you haven't been screwing her, what are you an idiot?"

Takashi was going to charge at him and attack, but the thug stopped him.

"Drop the bat or I'll kill the girl!" Takashi hesitantly compiled. "And I'll be taking your motorcycle too."

"It's battery is drained," Takashi pointed out.

"I saw you smash the register so you got plenty of money so recharge her up."

Takashi did as he was told and recharged the battery on the motorcycle, but when he was finished he knew he had to save Rei one way or the other.

"Come on just let us go? We're on our way to see if our families are ok or not," Takashi asked after putting away the recharging cable.

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR MY STORY?" The thug shouted. "If they are in town then they are just like my family! NOW GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Come on I mean it I am begging you to let us go!" Takashi asked as he boldly moved closer while getting ready to reach for the handgun he had tucked away behind his waist.

"SHUT UP OR I'LL KILL YOU TOO!"

Just as the thug pulled the knife away from Rei ready to strike Takashi saw his chance and head butted the thug's right shoulder knocking the knife from his hands. Takashi drew the gun and pressed it against his shoulder.

"This is my first time firing a gun, but at this range I can't miss." Takashi said as the thug was scarred now.

"It might explode on you?"

"It's better than letting you take my girl," Takashi said with determination ready to risk it all for Rei. Takashi pulled the trigger putting a hole in the thug's shoulder as he fell back in pain allowing Rei to get free and the girl was quick to whip out the baton.

"A hole…there is a blood hole I am bleeding!" The thug said after falling onto the ground screaming in pain. Rei understandably wanted payback for what the guy tried to do.

"How…how dare you?" Rei said as she was about to unleash her fury upon the thug, but Takashi stopped her.

"Don't Rei…we don't have time to waste on him." Takashi said getting the bike ready to go. "Plus we have made plenty of noise."

Rei looked and saw a large group of zombies advancing on the station being drawn by the screaming of the thug.

"You're leaving me by myself…please…save me!"

The duo took off without another word leaving the thug to his fate.

"There is probably a lot more like this in store for us," Takashi said as Rei held onto him as they rode off.

"I guess…no you're right. Takashi is something?" Rei began to ask but Takashi shrugged it off.

"No...it's nothing Rei."

Of course it wasn't nothing as the situation merely reinforced that the world they knew was gone, changed forever. The day wasn't even close to over and Takashi had already condemned a man to his death even though he only brought on it himself. Returning to the present Takashi looked around at the supplies and understood besides the undead they would have human threats to worry about like Shido's group. Somehow Takashi was convinced that Lelouch had the same idea as him which was likely another reason he led them here.

* * *

They were going to need whatever weapons and supplies they could take.

Kohta was already going over the weapons he found which consisted of Chinese Federation assault rifles which were a popular weapon among resistance groups due to their ease of handling making them popular among civilian militia groups for their light recoil. Of course there were a number of handguns including plenty of extra ammo. Lelouch was refilling the magazines he had emptied for his own sidearm. Out of the three magazines he had Lelouch had used up one and half of the other one but had kept the magazines so he could refill them later.

Shizuka was supplementing her medical bag with supplies while Rei was putting some MRE packs into the backpack the group had. Once Lelouch was finished he went through some of the supply creates looking for something. He retreated up stairs to take a red and blue backpack to load up more supplies into. Taking after Lelouch's example Takashi and Misuzu went up to grab some of the colorful arcade prize backpacks. The others with the exception of Shizuka and Saya would do the same, but as Lelouch was putting a few extra magazines into his bag Saya observed him putting a satellite phone and some kind of radio into his bag. Lelouch claimed an assault rifle while filling his bag with some spare ammo magazines, a small med-kit and a few MRE packs. Lastly he took a 12-volt battery and an electronic device of some kind. It looked like a part to a larger machine of some kind.

Kohta on the other hand stockpiled on ammo and took an assault rifle for himself along with a handgun as a backup sidearm. However besides Lelouch and Kohta who obviously displayed a surprisingly degree of familiarity with the weaponry he was handling and skill the rest of the group lacked experience.

"Kohta-kun, if you don't mind me asking you, How exactly did you end up possessing a familiarity with guns? You handle them like a professional soldier?"

"Well," Kohta began with a smile. "It's because I had training with the real thing."

"What how?" Lelouch asked.

"You see I had training from my uncle who has been raising me since my parents left me and ran off to the E.U."

"So your uncle was in the military?" Lelouch inquired.

"Yeah my uncle spent some time with me a few months ago teaching me a lot about weapons, how to handle them and to maintain them of course."

"Who is your uncle?" Lelouch asked.

"His name is Shogo Asahina."

"Wait as in?" Lelouch said as he realized who his uncle was.

"Yeah Shogo Asahina a member of the Four Holy Swords of the Japan Liberation Front formerly, but currently a member of the Black Knights and my uncle."

"That explains a lot," Lelouch replied with a smile as his luck seemed to be improving. Their group had someone with military weapons training which would be invaluable.

After everyone else gathered up enough supplies to hold them up for the long haul the group began making their way towards Shizuka friend's house to take refuge for the night as the sun was beginning to set. Kohta and Lelouch carried an assault rifle on their backs next to their backpacks as did the others except for Saeko who only carried a backpack with supplies preferring her wooden sword as weapon. Once they passed the castle Takashi mounted his motorbike with Shizuka joining him as she threw her arms around the young man to hold on.

"We're going to check it out."

"Right just be careful you two," Saeko cautioned before the two rode off. But Takashi couldn't help but blush a bit as he the busty woman tightly hold onto the young man.

"This feels great."

"Uh sensei you don't have to hold on that tight." The young high school student asked as his face turned red.

"Huh did you say something? I can't hear you?"

"Today has me dead tired," Saya said while stretching her arms out. "I want to take a shower while there is still power and water."

"I think a lot of us could use some rest?" Rei added as everyone including Lelouch was in agreement with her.

"Tomorrow we can figure out next move," Lelouch said as Misuzu and Toshimi were tried but the two were hanging in there.

"Right and with the Britannian Police preventing anyone from crossing right now we should just call it a day anyway. Although it's going to be dark in less than an hour anyway, so traveling any further is obviously out of the question." Kohta added.

It took a little time, but the group caught up to Takashi and Shizuka as the bike was parked in front of a small apartment complex. Parked in front of the building complex was a large vehicle that even had Lelouch's jaw drop in surprise. It was a tan colored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle or Humvee.

"I told you my friend's car is built like a tank!" Shizuka exclaimed with a smile.

"J-just who exactly is your friend?" Saya asked as Lelouch was equally curious as well too.

"Her name is Rika Minami."

"Rika…I heard that name somewhere before?" Lelouch muttered as he began thinking about it before realizing who she was.

"_Wait Rika Minami as in the bodyguard of Kaguya Sumeragi of the Six Houses of Kyoto, ok that explains a lot now." _

As Zero the former prince had heard of Rika as being close to Kaguya as her trusted bodyguard having been a young cadet who was inducted into the special forces at a young age due to the coming war with Japan having accomplished much for her age despite a short time in the military. It was these talents and skills that earned her place as Kaguya's bodyguard.

"Well at least with a fence like this we can sleep soundly tonight," Rei said changing the subject observing the tall wall before them. It was too tall for anyone to climb over making it ideal for them, but they would need to be quiet to avoid drawing them in by the hordes.

"We got plenty of supplies so we should be good now," Lelouch said before he and Takashi noticed something. Coming out from a window and around a corner was _Them. _It was clear that most of the residence of the apartment complex ended up as members of the undead, but their numbers were not numerous with only six at most. Lelouch readied his handgun making sure he had a full magazine installed. Kohta readied his nail gun deciding it would be a quieter weapon to use since the assault rifles would draw too much attention. Takashi took a crowbar out from the backpack ready to bash open some zombie heads.

"Komuro-kun, are we going to be ok like this?"

"Yeah this is perfect stay back with Misuzu and Toshimi we'll handle this Saya."

"Don't forget to cover each other's backs!" Lelouch said as he was ready.

"Let's go!" Takashi said as he and Saeko opened the gate and the group entered the apartment grounds as Takashi and Saeko swiftly took out the undead closest to them. Kohta and Lelouch used their silenced submachine guns to take out more of them with Kohta skillfully taking them out with headshots. Rei joined in using the baton she was becoming accustomed to. But it was more than that and both Takashi and Lelouch realized it. In less than a day an unexpected event changed them and everything, although Lelouch himself remained the same for the most part. Still Lelouch noticed the change in Takashi and the others, because this time they were not running they were fighting back against _Them _determined to survive.

With that the group ushered in the first night welcoming the end of the world as they knew it.

* * *

A/N: Well that ends the chapter and those wondering what became of Nunnally and C.C. I'll be revealing that next chapter as Sayoko is with them hence why Lelouch hasn't been hyperventilating yet. I felt there was no need to cover Rei and Takashi's journey on their own since it more or less played out like it in the manga, but I did decide to include the whole incident with the thug. Saya is suspicious of Lelouch and all things considered who wouldn't be. Although everyone else isn't overly questioning it since they need the supplies Lelouch has led them to, but unlike the fic it was more of a realistic set up with more general supplies like first aid kits, MRE packs with parts for Knightmare Frames in there including some weapons. The Black Knight cell that used it were taken own in a raid, but the Black Knights kept it as a safe house for members in the area with Lelouch having a key on hand. Unfortunately for them there are no silenced weapons, but their chances have improved. Of course what is the radio-like device and electronic part he took was? As a side note the music played was of course the opening song to HOTD anime and the paramedic Saya mentions was another real-world paramedic I put in replacing the Spanish Flu since it didn't happen in the CG universe from what I was told.

So next chapter we'll find out on how Sayoko and C.C. managed to keep Nunnally safe as the whole world went to hell around them. See you guys' next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3 The First Night

A/N: Ok in this chapter some of the issues I had somehow managed to overlook like why Lelouch didn't use his cell phone and such I will finally address in this chapter. In the previous chapters I made some changes that the cars and motorbikes use electricity for power instead of gas since we haven't seen any gas stations and all things considered all of their vehicles are probably electric too. I have made the appropriate changes of course, but a special thanks to those at deviant art, AlSmash and others for checking out the chapter before posting it so it's my hope that most of the problems and issues have been removed.

If there is anything I need to address or somehow overlooked once again the let me know. Anyway thank you all for the reviews and I hope you will enjoy the chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3

The First Night

The sun vanished below the horizon giving away to night as Lelouch, Takashi and Kohta finished barricading the door leading into the apartment while double-checking to make sure the windows were closed and locked with the curtains closed. Lelouch reasoned it would be a bad idea if anyone saw the light coming from the apartment which could attract desperate survivors who could draw _Them _to their location. Takashi did not want to risk losing Rei to another lunatic like the man they encountered at the gas station so they tried to keep a low profile. However inside the spacious bathroom some people couldn't help but make a racket.

Saeko, Rei, Saya, Shizuka, Misuzu and Toshimi were all inside the bathroom washing up in response to what happened today. Given the size of the group it was decided among them to bathe all at once with Rei and Shizuka occupying the bathtub while near the shower on stools were the other four females of the group using buckets to provide water due to the limited reach of the water facets. As Saya was carefully looking through the body washes and shampoos in front of her Saeko was in the middle of cleaning up using a soapy washing mitt on herself. Toshimi was using a bar of soap on herself while Misuzu's face was beat red as she looked at the other females in the room including her best friend. She looked down at her own chest and then at everyone else.

"This feels nice," Rei said stretching her arms.

"It feels like I am melting away." Shizuka said contently stretching out her arms in response to Rei as the two girls were content with relaxing in the tub. But Rei began blushing bright red around her cheeks after she looked down at Shizuka's…assets.

"Good god sensei you are really stacked!"

"Hee hee I get that a lot."

"Don't sound so cocky!" A jealous Rei remarked with a chuckle before advancing on the busty blonde. "Take this!"

"Ah-hya…don't...please not there!" Shizuka struggling but despite her age the younger girl was winning the struggle. "MERCY!"

"_It's not fair?" _Misuzu thought with one of her eyebrows twitching while at the same time she just wanted to cry.

"This isn't some lewd porno game." Saya said with a sigh as she began working shampoo into her hair, but she was having a hard time focusing with Shizuka and Rei going on behind them in the tub. "Why are we all in the bath at the same time anyway?"

"You know very well why Takagi-san." Saeko replied as she was about finished applying soap onto her arms. Once she was finished she decided that Saya needed to loosen up a little as she turned on the cold water tap and grabbed one of the extendable shower nozzles.

"That's true but…HYAAAAAH!" Saya was saying before she cried out in surprise as Saeko sprayed the pink-haired girl's rear causing her face to go red.

"That's a better voice than I was expecting!" Saeko said before laughing, but Saya was already itching for pay back filling up a small tub full of cold water. Saya dumped it all over Saeko's back whose reaction wasn't what the pink-haired woman was hoping for. Saeko took it well…in fact Saya wondered if the older girl enjoyed it.

"Pheew!"

"You still got to act like the big sister don't you?"

* * *

Outside in the bedroom on the second floor Takashi could hear them as he and Kohta were working on breaking into what the two along with Lelouch suspected to be a weapons locker. During their search of the apartment for supplies they found a large amount of ammo used more commonly for military-grade weapons. Lelouch had suspected Rika had some weapons hidden, but he didn't reveal his knowledge of Rika's line of work without being forced to spill how he knew that.

"It sounds like they are having fun in there?" Takashi commented as he wedged the crowbar into the locked left door of a six-foot tall black metal gun-locker.

"You want to sneak a peek? You know we're supposed to right?" Kohta suggested.

"I am too young to die."

"Same here, it's not worth the risk." Lelouch added not wishing to die at the hands of pissed off Japanese girls.

Lelouch was examining the locker suspecting something else.

"_Putting weapons you would likely get executed for possessing into an obvious location like this would be suicide if the police conducted a search on this place? Unless," _Lelouch thought as he used a butter knife trying to slip through into the back of the locker. Although it seemed separate from the wall, but Lelouch was finding that the locker was firmly _attached _to the wall much like if it was built into it.

"Well I am going to be very pissed off if there is nothing in here."

"There has to be." Kohta said making sure the crowbar was in the right place. "We found the ammunition so there has to be something in there."

"Screw it let's do it," Takashi said as he and Kohta both grabbed the crowbar. "Ok we do this on three, One…two…THREE!"

The two teens pulled back as hard as they could until the door gave away revealing a seemingly empty gun locker with a pair of military-style binoculars with night-vision.

"Oh you got to be fucking kidding me." Takashi said as Lelouch looked inside.

"Actually it would be too obvious…could you guys move?" Lelouch asked.

"Sure, but what are you expecting to find?" Kohta asked as Lelouch began feeling around the interior of the gun locker.

"I am looking for a hidden panel of course? This locker looks separate from the wall, but if you inspect it closely the whole thing is built into the wall itself which seems odd considering its appearance. Furthermore," Lelouch said as he found what he was looking for removing the hidden panel. "What better place to hide a stash of weapons than in plain sight?"

Lelouch backed out taking the panel with him revealing a hidden compartment in the wall behind the cabinet where Kohta and Takashi saw three weapons resting inside.

"I guess you called it!"

"You're a genius Lelouch-kun!" Kohta said with a frightening smile on his face before diving in to retrieve the weapons.

"Shizuka-sensei said this place belongs to her friend, but just what kind of friend is she?" Takashi said while Lelouch although he knew pretended otherwise shrugging his shoulders.

"She is either rich, has a boyfriend who is right or involved in some kind of funny business?"

"I guess so, but." Takashi began before they were interrupted by Kohta who was looking over the first of the weapons he pulled out.

"This is a L037Z6 semi-automatic assault rifle, the weapon of choice among the Royal Military police of the Britannian Homeland and Special Forces. Well I'll be damned it looks like someone had this thing customized." Kohta said as he was completely lost to Takashi and Lelouch as the Japanese boy couldn't even get through to him.

"_I wonder what his parents were like?" _Lelouch thought trying to figure out what made him into a gun-otaku.

"Uh…hello Kohta…earth to Kohta?" Takashi tried in vain to reach his friend.

"I knew it; this magazine is larger than the standard 30-round magazines. Yeah this thing has been customized to hold a magazine containing 40-rounds…oh that is just beautiful." Kohta said as he began laughing before putting it down to pull out another rifle. "A L85CG recoil-operated semi-automatic Sniper rifle I can't believe it. You can't even get these things in Japan no matter what kind of connections you got. Who ever owned this has completely remolded this gun…yeah I think they bought all of the parts separately then put it together. That couldn't have been easy since this bad boy is popular among the Britannian Homeland Coast Guard and even the military naturally."

Takashi reached in and drew out the last weapon which had Kohta's eyes go wide with a happy expression upon it.

"That's an L5570Z semi-automatic combat shotgun considered one of the best in the world. Hell that thing is the shotgun of choice among the Britannian Navy and the Royal Marines. That shotgun became infamous during the Second Pacific War."

"Really huh," Takashi said looking over the gun holding it before pointing it at Kohta prompting the young man to panic.

"Even if it's not loaded don't point a gun at someone!" Kohta said getting out of the line of sight of the weapon. "The only one you should point it at…"

"Are _Them_, but I hope that's all we will only point it at."

"Guys like Shido are out there, but either way we got to ready for anything." Lelouch said exchanging a serious expression with Takashi.

"I hear you on that one, but you know if I get bitten I don't want you guys to think twice about blowing my head off." Kohta said with a grin.

"Likewise I expect the same from you." Takashi replied nervously before Lelouch added.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but…heh…let's try to avoid it ok?"

"It's a deal!" Kohta replied with a wide smile as the teenage boys had made a promise to off the other if one of them got bitten. Of course they were going to make every effort to avoid that. Meanwhile Saya left the bathroom having dried off and changed into a light blue sleeveless shirt that was a little small for her, but it was the only thing that could fit her and a pair of black short-shorts. She was letting her long pink-hair flow free pass her waist while wearing her glasses.

Saya's eyebrow twitched as she heard Saeko in the bathroom now coming under assault from Rei after giving up trying to determine if Shizuka's breasts were fake or not.

"Damn it Miyamoto what reason do you have to be jealous?"

The pink-haired woman hurried up and finished to avoid coming under attack from Rei.

"_I wonder what the boys are up to?"_

Saya made her way up the stairs coming across Kohta and Takashi who were busy loading magazines with bullets for the new weapons they found. Saya was a little surprised they had found some more serious weaponry, but she shook off the feeling when she noticed Lelouch was missing. The Britannian teen wasn't down stairs so where did he disappear to? Saya slipped pass Takashi and Kohta by climbing over the bed as the two boys were talking about Shizuka's friend tossing theories back and forth about what she was involved in.

The young woman went outside looking for Lelouch, but he wasn't on the balcony. Saya was suspicious as she looked around before noticing a ladder leading up to the roof of the apartment complex.

* * *

On the roof hiding behind roof-mounted air conditioner was Lelouch as he was using a pocket radio to listen in on a news report. As he expected it wasn't good news as the outbreak was getting worse worldwide with the nations being barely able to halt the spread.

"With the rapid spread of this so called _murder syndrome_, the political infrastructure of our nation along with those of others is collapsing with no remedy in sight," Spoke the voice of a female newscaster before she added. "Just before communications with the Vatican was lost, the view that this crisis was divine punishment was rejected during a mass gathered there."

Lelouch kept listening with a grim expression on his face.

"According to the last report from the Ministry of Health from the Viceroy Palace in the Tokyo Settlement the number of people affected by this plague has already reached 20,000,000 and it is estimated to reach 100,000,000 in a matter of days. Having maintained our broadcast despite heavy sacrifices, this station can no longer ignore the effects of Murder Syndrome and the number of people it has infected so we are moving this station to an offshore facility. This marks the end of our regular broadcast. Good-bye everyone and good luck…"

"_The initial outbreak must have dealt out more damage worldwide than I thought." _

Lelouch thought as he began using the satellite phone he took from the safe house earlier this afternoon dialing a number. He would have used his cell phone, but realized early on and even confirmed when he asked Takashi about it that telecommunications services around Area 11 especially cell phones seemed to be out of service. Either the systems were overwhelmed by all of the emergency calls to 911 and other services like police for instance. But another possibility Lelouch considered was the possibility of those who maintained the systems responsible for cell phone service reception and telecommunications were comprised becoming zombies which would likely lead to the equipment being damaged. Of course it was more than likely a combination of the two.

"_Please have the satellite phone on you."_

The former prince was hoping that if anything the person he was attempting to contact would have taken the 72-hour kit he had made which included a satellite phone for emergencies. Lelouch's heart skipped a beat before racing rapidly as he heard the ring tone. Then he released a sigh of relief when someone answered it, but was still a bit concerned when a familiar female voice answered it.

"I assume that is you Lelouch?"

"C.C I take it you survived the zombie apocalypse?"

On the other end holding a satellite phone of her own was a green-haired immortal teenage girl with yellow eyes wearing a white Britannian prison straightjacket.

"And I was correct to assume you would survive as well?" C.C. said with an all-knowing smirk.

"Is that Lelouch…is my brother?" Another voice in the background asked.

"Is that's Nunnally?" Lelouch asked recognizing the voice of his sister.

The girl in question was fourteen years old with sandy blonde hair wearing the pink and white middle school uniform of Ashford Academy sitting on the ground near the immortal woman. C.C. and Nunnally including a few others were inside an underground shelter with shelves stocked with food and barrels filled with fresh water including some roll out beds among other supplies. More specifically it was a panic room of shorts built under the Ashford Academy main administration building. It was more for the members of the Ashford Family in the event of a terrorist attack, but in this case it was serving as the shelter for C.C, Nunnally and the other survivors of the now zombie infested Ashford Academy.

C.C. and Nunnally plus four people in the room were the only survivors.

"_Thank god she's ok."_

Lelouch thought as he had dared to think what would have happened to Nunnally, but knowing already Sayoko and C.C were there when the outbreak happened his sister had a chance at survival. For the first time all day Lelouch felt true relief knowing the one he cared for most was alive and still human.

"Who else is there with you? What happened exactly?"

"Well…" C.C. began as she told Lelouch what had transpired when the academy much like Fujimi Academy had suddenly suffered an explosive outbreak.

* * *

(Hours ago around the same time Lelouch was trying to survive at Fujimi Academy)

C.C. was enjoying a midday snack which consisted of a large pizza while lounging around on Lelouch's bed. She knew the young man she was in a contract with would be back later that afternoon. What Lelouch did ultimately didn't concern C.C, but it was only when his life was in danger it did because she needed him to fulfill their contract. Surprisingly school was cancelled to allow students time to prepare for the upcoming festival as well as to ease tensions among students that were brought up due to the recent invasion of Kyushu.

However Nunnally was with the student council members in the meeting room as Milly Ashford the student council president was with other members of the student council putting the final touches on plans for the upcoming festival. Other students including the clubs a majority was involved with were doing the same while a lesser majority not involved was simply hanging around. The day seemed normal enough, but perhaps almost similar to what happened at Fujimi all it took was for a few people to get bitten by one of _Them. _Not in the same manner, but once it got into the academy then everything began to crumble before finally collapsing unleashing panic and chaos.

No one knew how it happened, but it did and soon enough an announcement was heard throughout the school.

"Attention all staff and students of Ashford Academy I repeat may I have you attention please? A violent outbreak has just occurred at the school so all students are instructed to fall members of the facility to safety at once. I ask that all students," But like at Fujimi Academy some events have a way of repeating themselves. The sound of the door to the headmaster's office was broken down before Ruben Ashford was heard crying out.

"Please stay back…someone help me….SOMEONE HELP!" The last anyone heard of the headmaster of the academy was the unfortunate old man's screaming a group of _Them _viciously attacked and killed him.

C.C. was one who was rarely surprised by things, but she was abnormally silent just as uneasy silence fell upon the school for a few seconds until screaming and shouting were heard as panic spread like wildfire through the school. The immortal girl went to a window and observed as she saw large groups of students attempting to flee. Some were going for the main entrance while others were seeking alternate means of escape. But in their panic stampeding students trampled one another and even some teachers got ran down as well too. Then that was when C.C. saw _Them _their groups began small, but as more and more students fell victim their numbers began to swell rapidly.

"Lelouch-sama, are you in here?" A voice said before the door opened and a worried Japanese woman about twenty four years old wearing a black and white classic maid uniform complete with the hat entered the room. She had short brown hair and light brown eyes. "C.C-sama?"

Sayoko Shinozaki the maid and caretaker of the Lamperouge siblings, but more in particular Nunnally due to her special needs as a result of her disabilities. However unknown except to a few and even Lelouch was that Sayoko was recently recruited as a spy for the Order of the Black Knights by the head of the organization's Head of Information, Espionage, and Public Relations. C.C. on the other hand was fully aware of this fact because she was the one who ultimately approved of her recruitment into the group.

"Sayoko…if you are looking for Lelouch he isn't here right now. We were going to meet up later, but I think we have a situation on our hands."

"Yes, but I…I can't abandon Nunnally-chan."

"I understand, but I don't think staying here will be a good idea?"

"There is the panic room below the administration building we can take cover in? Trying to get through the Tokyo Settlement with Nunnally-chan would be too risky."

"I agree, but before we attempt to get to the panic room we're going to need a few things. Stay with Nunnally until I come. Lelouch has a few things we can use." C.C. said as Sayoko nodded running off to the student council room to keep Nunnally and everyone there. The green-haired immortal brought out a backpack containing emergency supplies to last three days containing water, food, a medical kit and a few other helpful survivor tools including a radio and a satellite phone.

C.C. grabbed the second handgun Lelouch kept, which she used weeks ago to personally remove an _old mistake _from the past. After making sure the magazine was full the immortal woman brought out a third gun Lelouch had acquired as a reserve weapon in conjunction to the two he already had. If she was among the student council then there was someone else who could make use of the weapon. C.C. had no doubt that she could survive this outbreak on her own, but the idea of a zombie outbreak was to be fair something she never would have expected. Of course she knew none of the others would survive without help and her partner losing his sister could kill his will to live which was unacceptable.

Arriving at the student council room she quickly spotted Nunnally before eyeing everyone else at the room who immediately noticed her.

"Uh who is that?" A young man with spiked up blue hair and gray eyes wearing the black and gold trimmed uniform of Ashford Academy male students.

"I think staying here might be a bad idea."

C.C. began before looking towards the person he was hoping to be present. She had bright red hair and blue eyes with a slender figure wearing the female Ashford Academy uniform for high school student consisting of a black skirt, a sand-colored jacket over a white-collar shirt, a green tie and light blue-thigh high socks with black shoes. Kallen Kozuki or known publicly in the Academy as Kallen Stadtfeld, but what many in the academy didn't know that she was the ace pilot of the Order of the Black Knights despite being a half-Britannian and half-Japanese girl. Understandably Kallen was confused at seeing one of the high-ranking members of the Black Knights at Ashford Academy of all places especially since there were rumors, which was false of course, that C.C. was Zero's mistress.

"Kallen take this!" C.C. called out tossing the second handgun to Kallen who caught it with her hands.

"Huh you know C.C. Kallen?" Nunnally inquired having met C.C. months ago believing her to be a new friend her brother made, but was led to misunderstand that Lelouch and the green-haired woman was in a relationship with one another much to Lelouch's chagrin.

"Well yeah kinda, but," Kallen began not certain how to explain herself before giving the immortal woman her full attention demanding. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"I'll explain later, but if you people want to end up a meal of those zombies out there we should get someplace safe. I believe Ashford Academy has a panic room below the main administration building right?"

"How did you know about that?" A busty blonde haired woman about eighteen years of age with blue eyes wearing the same female school uniform as Kallen except she wore dark blue socks instead.

"Lelouch told me about it." C.C. replied to Milly Ashford the Student council president and she knew because she was the granddaughter of its headmaster. The Ashfords had it built to escape from terrorists and other dangerous that could arise for their own uses so no one with the exception of a small few which included Milly and her grandfather were aware of it. "You should know the pass code to get inside correct?"

"I do, but…"

"I have no intention of leaving Nunnally here; Lelouch would be most upset if anything happened to her. Zero would especially be unhappy if anything happened to her as well. The rest of you are welcomed to come, but seeing how fast this is spreading we'll need to move quickly."

"Huh Zero, but…" Kallen began surprised that her superior would be concerned for Nunnally. Of course it wasn't that she was concerned for the girl just the same, but still.

"I don't have time to explain, but I'll tell you later once we are safe."

"Ok before anyone goes anywhere just who the heck are you?" Milly demanded.

"I am a friend of Lelouch who is going to make sure none of you die or get devoured by those…things out there."

Everyone looked out the window and saw the situation worsening by the minute.

"But there is so many of them out there so how are we going to make it?" Rivalz inquired.

"We'll need to be quick." C.C. said as she looked at everyone seriously.

"I can carry Nunnally-chan, but I won't be able to fight." Sayoko offered.

"It's for her sake that you carry her since that wheelchair of hers can't move very fast." C.C. pointed out while Nunnally seemed uneasy but she understood the situation. As everyone else got ready to head for the shelter C.C. and Sayoko devised a way for the maid to carry Nunnally while leaving her arms open by modifying a large backpack adding a few straps and belts to secure the fourteen year old girl onto the maid's back. It was difficult to fight in her state, but at least it left her arms available. Rivalz managed to get his hand on a baseball bat he found in one of the closets downstairs while Shirley and Milly grabbed a broom and mop respectively with Nina not taking anything. The girl was too nervous and frightened by what was happening outside which merely reinforced the fact that attempting to stay at the clubhouse where there were too many points of entry for those zombies coupled with the fact that there were not enough of them to properly defense this place.

The lack of real weapons was another major issue.

"Alright we don't know if these things are going to react the minute they see us, but nobody attack them unless they come at us. If a few come at us then we might have a swarm of them coming after us." C.C. explained while Milly and the others with the exception of Kallen and Sayoko were uncertain about the woman.

"We need to go, but no panic or none of us will make it." Sayoko said sternly as she would follow behind C.C. with the others taking up the rear allowing some protection for Nunnally.

C.C. opened the door as she walked outside with her handgun ready, but seeing the devastation of how much the outbreak has already converted just about the entire student and staff members into zombies. No one could be certain if anyone had managed to seek refuge or escape the academy, but right now their survival was priority. The zombies didn't seem to notice them causing the green-haired woman to question if they could even see to begin with.

"I don't know if they can even see, but just the same everyone be on your guard and be quiet."

Kallen covered their rear as the group proceeded cautiously across the zombie infested school grounds heading for the main administration building to make for the basement where panic room was located. Fortunately for the group the zombies seemed more concentrated near the dorms, the auditorium and near the main entrance of the school likely having been lured by the fleeing students. Still that didn't mean the path ahead of them wasn't completely clear.

After ten full minutes of heart-racing maneuvering through a literal zombie minefield the group entered the main administration building with Sayoko pointing in the direction of where the elevator to take them to the panic room laid. But the halls ahead of them had a number of undead students, but while a few were wandering aimlessly a few were just standing still uncertain of what to do. As C.C. was contemplating how to get pass them something went wrong.

"EEEEEEKKKK!" Nina screamed as a door to their left opened as a zombified teacher came stumbling out, but was quickly shot in the head by Kallen.

"Well good news is we know these things are obviously blind, but the bad news is they drawn by the sound their prey makes, so everyone...RUN FOR IT!"

C.C. ordered as she began shooting at the zombies that began converging upon them ahead of them before running with the rest of the group following as Sayoko kept up behind her. A few zombies emerged from the classrooms they had just passed as the group advanced through the hallways heading for the elevator. They reached the elevator, but as Milly frantically pushed the button to call it more and more zombies began closing in on them from just about every direction possible. C.C. and Kallen managed to down a few more zombies before being forced to reload forcing Rivalz, Milly and Shirley to help defend them as they changed out magazines.

Nina was shivering and cowering in a corner as terror and panic were overwhelming her.

She couldn't even think coherently by this point, but when the elevator finally came the doors opened the young girl ran in…slamming into a pair of undead students. Nina could only scream in terror as she was helplessly mauled by the two zombie students as one bit into her neck and the other one began munching on her arm.

"NINA!" Milly cried out, but it was too late despite Kallen quickly shot the two students. But the unfortunate girl was badly wounded as she was bleeding profusely before stumbling out of the elevator with Rivalz catching her.

"I don't think she's going to make it," Rivalz said as the group was now introduced to another horrific truth about the way the zombie pandemic spreads. Because she was bitten in the neck Nina _died _in Rivalz's arms moments later before becoming one of _Them. _However Rivalz realized the sudden change in Nina as his skin changed to a grayish color, but he couldn't get away fast enough as Rivalz was bitten on his right hand.

C.C. killed the zombified Nina a second later.

"Damn it…"

C.C. said as she realized just as Rivalz understood it too clearly that he was as good as dead now that a zombie Nina had bitten him. A bite to neck causes the effects to be seemingly instant the closer the infection is to the brain, but a bite further away from it takes time to claim the victim. Milly and Shirley much to his discomfort removed the students from the elevator with Kallen and C.C. fending off the zombies with small arms fire wiping out the initial group. But they knew more were coming so everyone piled into it, but even more zombies were coming as the group saw over two dozen of them heading down the hall. But Rivalz alone remained outside he knew he was going to inevitably die.

"Rivalz what the hell are you doing?"

"Nina bit me…and just like what happened when those two bit her she became one of those zombies. But I guess unless they bite your neck it doesn't happen as quick. I guess I am screwed," Rivalz said trying to make light on his impending demise. Truthfully the young man was terrified that he was going to die, but he had no intention of allowing himself to become one of them.

At that moment an idea came to mind…it was crazy, but at this point what did he have to lose?

"Go on ahead you guys I am going to die a human, but I am going to take a lot of these guys with me." Rivalz said boldly.

C.C. understood and as the elevator doors began to close Milly wanted to stop Rivalz, but Shirley and Kallen much to their own sorrow and regret held the woman back. After the elevator doors closed the blonde haired woman broke down in tears. Rivalz with a cocky smile began making as much racket as he could to attract as many of the zombies as he hurried out of the administration building leading them towards one of the other buildings on the campus. There were not too many zombies in his way, but those he ran into he dashed passed them and evaded until he came to the chemical lab. Remembering an incident Nina herself had caused Rivalz began mixing a number of chemicals haphazardly before superheating it.

As it was beginning to boil Rivalz could feel his body weakening, but at the same time the zombies lured by all of the noises he made broke down the door. But by then Rivalz had recreated conditions of an accident Nina had caused while taking steps to ensure it was more devastating than what had happened. The accident in question was caused by a small amount Nina had accidentally left unattended, but what Rivalz had cooking was at least well over a gallon of the volatile chemical.

"Oh silly me I should have told Milly how I felt, but then again it would have hurt her a lot more." Rivalz said jokingly as he slapped his cheek while a few tears fell from his eyes. As the zombies closed in the chemical mixtures' container began to crack before…

BOOM!

The explosion Rivalz triggered caused ten-times the damage than the one Nina caused which had wrecked a good part of the lab, but this explosion destroyed it completely setting it ablaze as it triggered a chain of secondary explosions from all of the chemicals now aflame. Rivalz had also unknowingly put together a more explosive chemical mixture than what Nina had accidentally created, which was more due to his lack of knowledge in chemistry.

He had a surprisingly good memory; however…he went out in a blaze of glory.

After disembarking the elevator the basement floor was surprisingly cleared of zombies, which was mostly likely because no one were able to get down here. Wasting no time Sayoko lead them to the concealed doors leading into the panic room. Milly sadly entered the codes to open the heavily armored doors before everyone hurried inside locking themselves inside the panic room.

* * *

Returning to the present C.C. finished telling her story of events to Lelouch who was saddened by the loss of Rivalz and Nina. Lelouch was silent with obvious concern for the survivors especially Nunnally who was probably in a bad state of shock over what happened.

"Anyway I think you should talk to Nunnally." C.C. suggested before passing the phone to the small girl who sat on a cushion mattress on the ground. Lelouch didn't object and allowed her the nervous and worried fourteen year old girl to speak.

"Big brother is that you…are you ok?"

"I am fine Nunnally I am sorry I wasn't there."

"I am just glad you are alright, where are you?"

"I am in Tokonosu City with Saeko. I had gone to see her when the outbreak happened, but we managed to find a place to take cover for the night."

"Saeko is with you?" Nunnally said with some relief in her voice that he wasn't out there alone.

"She is, but we managed to meet up with some other survivors. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can, but it's too dangerous to travel at night…I am sorry Nunnally."

"You don't have to apologize brother I know you will come just please be careful. Tell Saeko-chan I said hi."

"I will Nunnally, but before I go tell C.C. that I am going to make arrangements for you and the others to be rescued. If I don't arrive soon I hope they will get you all out of danger, but I'll meet up with you as soon as possible."

"Just be careful brother."

"I will…" Lelouch said as he hung up with a heavy heart.

It was perhaps fortunate that Shirley and Milly did not jump in on the conversation, perhaps they were in shock over what happened and likely grieving what happened to Rivalz and Nina. Collecting himself after a moment Lelouch began to dial another number. Lelouch took a deep breath as he listened to the dial tone before someone picked up.

"Hello," Kaname Ohgi the Deputy Commander of the Black Knights said picking up the satellite phone he swapped out his cell phone for as they became useless following the outbreak. The former teacher turned second in command to the organization.

"Ohgi it's me Zero," Lelouch spoke before hearing relief from the older man on the other side.

"Zero you're alive? Where are you?"

"I was caught off guard by this outbreak like the rest of the world. I am stuck in Tokonosu City with another group of survivors made up of some Japanese high school students and one adult."

"Tokonosu City…is anyone else from the organization with you?"

"No, but I intend to rendezvous with the rest of you as soon as possible. I would have contacted you sooner, but cell phones are not working due to communication circuits either being damaged or jammed."

Lelouch admitted as he did attempt to use his phone earlier after the outbreak started but the lines were jammed and reception was becoming a problem. He wondered if cell phone towers in the area had been damaged or just too many people were calling 911. Of course there was the possibility too that those responsible for maintaining them could have been rendered zombies as a result of the outbreak which might have resulted in equipment getting damaged during any attempts to fend them off.

Or it more likely could have been a combination of all of the above.

"However could you please bring me up to speed Ohgi?"

"Sure thing besides what you have probably heard some kind of outbreak is turning people into undead zombies which seems to spread if you get bitten by them. I am actually with Tohdoh and Diethard in the conference room aboard the submarine discussing the situation before you called."

"I see could you put me on speaker phone then?"

"Of course," Ohgi replied putting down the phone and linking a wire to it. "Go ahead…"

"It's a relief to hear from you Zero," Spoke Diethard Reid the Black Knight's Head of Information, Espionage, and Public Relations for the Black Knights. He was thirty-one years of age with long sandy-blonde hair tried into a ponytail wearing the usual black and gray trimmed uniform of the Black Knights except he wore a red turtleneck under the uniform coat.

"I am glad to hear that our leadership has survived intact, but Tohdoh could you give me an update." Lelouch asked addressing Suzaku Kururugi old sensei a former leader of the defunct Japan Liberation Front was currently Head of the Military Operations for the Black Knights. He still wore his old olive-green uniform from his time in the Japanese military and his short brown hair was appropriately cut and styled as always.

"Despite the sudden outbreak we were very fortunately that a number of our operation cells have managed to weather the initial surge of…infected victims rampaging throughout Japan. We don't know how it happened, but according to status reports we have collected it seems to have happened roughly around the same time as similar sudden outbreaks around Japan took place if only thirty minutes to an hour apart from one another."

"That is disturbing to hear…I noticed some areas were quickly infected within a matter of minutes. Most of it was caused by people not realizing they were no longer…normal anymore." Lelouch said lightly touching upon the undead zombie subject as like Tohdoh he was still having some difficulty accepting the idea of zombies.

"Yes and we know the infection is spread by means of an infected biting a victim."

"I noticed that as well. However have they noticed that an infected victim is rendered blind and tracks its next victims by means of sound?"

"Yes have a few reports making mentions to a similar observation. However in light of this I have taken the liberty to order all of our cells and divisions to enforce strict inspection protocols to check members and any survivors they take in for signs of infection. Some of the cells managed to save some survivors. We almost had an incident with one of our cells in Kyushu, but they contained it however they lost a few."

"I see…excellent work Tohdoh. But I advise that our cells should be careful on the number of survivors they take in. I have no objections if they wish to take in more survivors. Just as long as they check them for infection and are fully aware of their food, water and medical supplies not to exhaust them too quickly. With the lock-downs Britannia is enforcing in Area 11 based on what I am seeing here at the Onbetsu Bridge moving supplies might become a little more difficult."

"I agree, but maybe the other cells could acquire supplies from ideal locations in their areas." Tohdoh suggested as he agreed with Zero on the potential and even dangerous issue of supplies. Especially if they don't know how much worse this outbreak could get.

"That could work since right now we don't know if the situation will get better or worse? As a precaution we should make preparations for the long-haul if the outbreak gets worse than better."

"I agree…although it's too soon to say how the current situation could go. But I will issue new orders to our division cells."

"They have my permission to seek out additional supplies if they are either running low or are inclined to retrieve some. However they are to conduct their supply hunts carefully without drawing the attention of the Britannians. Since the infected track their victims by sound anyone who heads out to hunt for supplies should bring with them weapons equipped with suppressors."

"Given all that is going on I think the last thing we need to do is stir up a hornets' nest." Tohdoh said in agreement as with the situation provoking a fight against Britannia would be too costly.

"At least until we have a better understand of the situation in Area 11 regarding the outbreak, but we should prepare for the worse-case scenario just in case now while we can." Lelouch added.

"I have no objections."

"In the meantime I want Diethard to maintain his information contacts if possible? But tell me Diethard how are communications throughout Area 11?"

"Well as you likely have guessed cell phones along with telecommunication services are down throughout Area 11. Web browsing of course is out as well, but I suspect telecommunications went down due to a combination of the systems being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people trying to call emergency numbers like 911 and others. Of course during the course of the outbreak faculties and cell phone towers could have been damaged."

"I suspected as much, but I assume satellite communications are still working?"

"Yes, but I was discussing with Ohgi and Tohdoh on other possible means of communications should satellite communications no longer become possible. We are considering using radio communications as a possible backup."

"Considering the situation I believe we should seek and obtain alternative means of communication so please pursue whatever course is best to secure a reliable secondary form of communication if satellite communication becomes no longer possible." Lelouch said as he was doubtful communication satellites were in danger of being rendered useless, but no one was expecting zombies to overrun the world so it was better to be prepared for the worse and most unlikely of situations all things considered especially now. "On that note Diethard I want you to maintain contact with as much of your sources as possible. I want us to remain update on the situation with the Britannian Military and what they plan to do. The news channels will no longer be reliable soon I assume."

"Yes…even now the television stations around Area 11 have been abandoned with most of the crew and other reporters moving to off-shore locations or have managed to find a safe place of their own. Others have gone to certain locations including near your location to report on the outbreak."

"I see…"

"Speaking of which I think one of them is reporting from the Onbetsu Bridge. Near your location…actually it's the only news program still broadcasting so here." Diethard said as he used a remote to turn on the wall-monitor tuning in to the only active news report the former producer found. The first thing Ohgi, Tohdoh and Diethard saw was a Japanese man wearing a white hard-hat standing before a crowd of people, protesters by the looks of them and the signs the trio saw that they were holding. Lelouch unable to watch the report for obvious reasons listened in.

"Don't tolerate the tyranny of the Britannians," The man in the hard had declared as others chanted together.

"Don't tolerate it!"

"We strongly condemn this biological weapon, this circulation of killing pandemic developed by the Britannians."

Suddenly the scene shifted to a woman with brown hair wearing a yellow jacket holding a microphone as she began elaborating on the scene behind her.

"This group which has begun its demonstration on the Onbetsu Bridge leading into the Tokyo Concession with tensions running extremely high."

"Killing pandemic," Ohgi commented while Lelouch added.

"They are probably talking about…the…infected victims."

"We don't know what kind of group it is or if it's related to a terrorist group, but according to the flyer distributed by the group the main focus of their protest is to condemn those who allowed killing pandemic also known as Murder Syndrome to spread and they believe it's a biological weapon developed by our government."

"Are serious...are they even sane? What biological weapon," Lelouch said in obviously annoyance with the amount of stupidity the protestors was demonstrating. Granted he knew former Viceroy Clovis was conducting experiments on C.C, but sadly the young man did not know the details. Even though he doubted the possibility of such a horrific biological weapon capable of such massive collateral damage was even possible.

"I agree…those people are just crazy. How do you explain walking corpses that eat people?" Ohgi said even denying the possible of this whole outbreak being the result of a biological weapon.

"I can't imagine any government that might have even had the means to develop a biological weapon capable of this and even if they did who in their right mind would set it loose like this." Tohdoh added.

"That can only mean that group is made up of lunatics…maybe even radical anti-Britannians…or both," Ohgi noted.

"People like that will only become part of the problem and I doubt the Britannians are going to," Lelouch began but before he could finish a Britannian Police Officer shot the lead protestor in the head after a brief discussion with him. The news program was terminated with a sign displaying technical difficulties, but Ohgi, Tohdoh and Diethard were stunned while Lelouch having heard the sound of the gun quickly realized what had happened. However considering the situation he was just expecting that short of action. Suddenly Lelouch heard a much louder noise on his end…the sound of explosions.

Standing up from where he had been sitting he looked over towards the source of the explosion and spotted multiple explosions that looked to be from rocket launchers.

"Zero what's going on?" Ohgi asked.

"Ohgi I think those protestors either were carrying heavy weapons or another group has just begun attacking the Britannian Police Officers managing the blockade on the bridge."

"WHAT?"

"I can't see it too clearly from this side, but I see one of the Knightpolice frames have been destroyed so either the protestors are fighting back or someone is taking out the Knightmare Frames helping to manage the blockade."

"That's insane," Ohgi said as he almost couldn't believe it. The trio could even hear the faint sound of the explosions in the background.

"Given all that has happened isn't it easier to blame people for the world going wrong so quickly." Diethard said.

A fact everyone had to accept because they all had to face the obvious truth that something supernatural or otherwise was turning people into corpse-like being that had them going after people to feast on their flesh. Even if you didn't want to call them zombies that is what they still were and there was simply no beating around the bush on that.

"With this new development I don't think I need to note that we should handle what happens next with extreme caution and any survivors we take in…we need to be careful."

"Understood Zero…"

"By the way Ohgi before I forget earlier I spoke to C.C. She and Kallen are stranded at Ashford Academy which has become overrun with these…zombies. They have taken refuge inside a well supplied and armored panic room below the academy administration building." Lelouch reported as Ohgi sighed in thankful relief at the news of Kallen's survival.

"Thank you…" Ohgi said with a smile on his face.

"With that said as soon as it's possible I want a group to seize Ashford Academy and convert it to an outpost listening base for monitoring the Britannian Forces at the Viceroy Palace. We could even use the grounds to help any survivors we take in. But check them for any weapons, infection or anything that might suggest they would try to help the infect more...you understand right?"

"I understand completely Zero I'll make sure our Division Cells receive orders to take similar precautions." Tohdoh said as the Black Knights likely had crazy lunatics to worry about now. "Anyway we'll see about organizing a team to seize Ashford Academy, but considering the situation that will take some time for the proper preparations to be made. Not to mention the state the surrounding area must be in."

As much as he wanted them to move on Ashford Academy the former prince knew it was best if the group sent to seize Ashford Academy was properly prepared.

"I understand seize the academy once all proper preparations have been made, but I recommend you prepare for the unexpected. Also any survivors found in the panic room are to be cared for."

"Understood..." Tohdoh said in acknowledgement before asking. "What is your destination Zero?"

"At present we are taking refuge for the night at one of the apartment complexes, but tomorrow we're going to head for possibly the Takagi Estate depending on the situation there. I'll contact you again when I reach a secure location with details, but once C.C. has been recovered have her take the Gawain to recover me. I have taken an IFF transponder from one of our safe houses we had in the area. I'll activate it once recovery is on the way to make finding me easier."

"I assume you are without your mask then?"

"Yes," Lelouch replied.

"I see, but we don't have anyone in your area so we can't dispatch anyone to recover you and the survivors in any event."

"I know and given the situation trying to move about at night is suicide. With the blockades in place ground recovery would be difficult especially with what just happened on the bridge."

"I agree, but I assume you'll contact us once you reach the Takagi Estate?"

"I intend to or sooner if I can. By the way before I forgot…Ohgi are you familiar with a Koichi Shido?" Lelouch asked knowing that Ohgi was a former teacher, so he was hoping by some chance he knew Shido.

"Yeah I know him," Ohgi replied as his voice was edged with hints of anger and bitterness. "Koichi Shido, a manipulative bastard who promotes bullying and is more likely to sell out his own students in a second, so if that's him then I know him."

"So you know him?"

"Yeah I substituted at Fujimi a few times."

"Then would you object if I gave you orders to shoot him on sight then?"

"Actually I would gladly see to it those orders are carried out. There have been a number of questionable rumors surrounding that guy so there are a few others who would like to see him shot."

"I see…" Lelouch replied smiling as it seemed that Rei and Saeko were not the only ones who despised Shido which didn't seem surprising. "Anyway I better go I'll contact you again as soon as I can."

"Understood!" Ohgi replied as Lelouch hung up taking a deep breath before sitting down on top of a piece of rooftop machinery watching the scene out at the bridge as the explosions were dying down, but regardless of which side one the Britannia's ability to hold the bridge had been severely comprised.

"_The zombies are likely to be able to overrun the bridge now…especially all of that noise will attract them by the hundreds for sure." _

"I knew there was something fishy about you…Zero." An unexpected voice spoke surprising Lelouch as he saw someone emerge from a hiding spot. It was Saya who had been hiding behind one of the rooftop air-conditioning units near the ladder Lelouch had used earlier. It was obvious she had eavesdropped on the whole conversation. "Don't think I didn't see you pocket that satellite phone back at that safe house."

Lelouch was slightly irritated his identity had been found out again, which now made Saya the third person to find out.

"_She was suspicious of me from the start, but…" _

"Don't worry I have no intention of telling anyone else right now since any kind of mistrust the revelation of your identity as Zero might cause would just jeopardize our survival chances." Saya was quick to say as she approached Lelouch. "I assume Saeko is aware of your identity isn't she?"

Lelouch sighed since he was exposed as Zero. Although he could use his Geass to conceal his identity, but after some consideration he decided against it reasoning that perhaps it would be more beneficial for the time being at least that Saya was fully aware of his identity as Zero.

"She is, but truth be told she only found out earlier today that I was Zero. She suspected I was him because of our past relationship. We have known each other for the last seven years."

"I see, so were you seeing Saeko this afternoon to recruit her or," Saya said as her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "Were you going to ask her to protect your sister given your likely need to spend more time as Zero?"

"_So she overheard anything then." _

Lelouch thought realizing just how much Saya had figured out about his identity, but she didn't know that he was former Britannian Prince at least.

"_There is no need to tell her anything else right now." _

"Yes it was about my sister…I don't want to involve her or Saeko in Zero's world. I have no intention of loosing, but I would be a fool if I didn't consider the worse-case scenario. If I was killed or worse captured anyone involved with Zero would be killed."

"I see…" Saya said as she understood Lelouch's intentions of seeking out Saeko and his likely reasons for wanting her to watch over Nunnally for him.

"I chose Saeko because she is fully aware of the situation Nunnally and I are also she is someone Nunnally trusts completely as I trust Saeko." Lelouch said before deciding to add. "I won't go into detail but suffice to say to the Ashford Foundation, whose academy we attend and live at, we're nothing more than insurance for them to be traded if the situation in Area 11 goes against them. Part of my reason to becoming Zero is to no longer live as some kind of liability insurance to be used. I won't let my life and my sister's life to be used in such a fashion."

"I see…I won't ask about it anymore, but I won't tell anyone as long as you don't do anything to jeopardize our chances of surviving."

"That's fair enough I see no reason to disagree."

"Good and," Saya said before she sneezed feeling a cold wind blow pass her.

"I think we should get out of here."

"Right and with all of that chaos that just happened at the bridge we should turn off the lights and lock up the place for the night. It's probably best that nobody knows where here."

"You have a point…everyone else should be done. Maybe you and the other boys should consider bathing." Saya said as she and Lelouch went back down to the balcony, but as the two opened the door to go back inside. The most unexpected of scenes was there to greet them, which consisted of Kohta lying on the ground looking up at the ceiling with a brain-dead expression on his face and a small amount of blood drizzling from his nose having experienced an epic nose bleed moments ago.

On the bed nearby was Takashi trying to load Shizuka onto his back who was wearing a white towel. His face was flushed with a bit of blood coming out of his nose while struggling to keep the larger woman on his back which was no easy task since he was trying to keep the towel from slipping off of her. Lelouch and Saya looked at the scene with dumbfounded expressions trying to figure just what the hell was going on here while they were on the roof.

"What the hell happened?" Saya began trying to piece together what happened.

"Somehow I get the feeling Miss Marikawa got her hands on some alcoholic beverage or something otherwise I don't know how else to explain the situation." Lelouch replied. "I think we should stay outside for a few minutes more."

"I love turtles!" A dazed Kohta said as he was trying to recover from Shizuka kissing him and calling him Kohta-chan not too long ago.

"Hopefully nobody else got into whatever Marikawa-sensei had." Saya remarked hoping that the other members of their group had the sense to not get intoxicated since considering there are zombies roaming about outside being drunk at this time was obviously a bad idea. Yet just for their own safety the duo decided to stay outside to wait for things to settle down a little.

* * *

A/N: well a quiet chapter, but it's always calm before the storm and Alice will make her appearance next chapter. How will things go different, but once they cross the river it's a matter of how much things will change now that it seems some radicals are out there attempting to help the zombies. Are the men who attacked the police on the bridge really aware of the true _condition _of them or do they have other motives for attacking the blockade with heavy weapons comprising their ability to hold the bridge against the zombie horde. Things might get hairy for the others in the next chapter, but as for Suzaku, Euphy and the others their appearance will be in the upcoming chapters.

Despite my efforts I did try avoid killing characters, but I saw no way around it for Nina and Rivalz, but at least Shirley lived this time.


End file.
